Miscanthus is a major bioenergy crop in Europe and a potential feedstock for second generation biofuels. Thermochemical pretreatment is a significant step in the process of converting lignocellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars. In this work, microwave energy was applied to facilitate NaOH and H 2 SO 4 pretreatments of Miscanthus . This was carried out at 180 ℃ in a monomode microwave cavity at 300 W. Our results show that H 2 SO 4 pretreatment contributes to the breakdown of hemicelluloses and cellulose, leading to a high glucose yield. The maximum sugar yield from available carbohydrates during pretreatment is 75.3% (0.2 M H 2 SO 4 20 Min), and glucose yield is 46.7% under these conditions. NaOH and water pretreatments tend to break down only hemicellulose in preference to cellulose, contributing to high xylose yield. Compared to conventional heating NaOH/H 2 SO 4 pretreatment, 12 times higher sugar yield was obtained by using microwave assisted pretreatment within half the time. NaOH pretreatments lead to a significantly enhanced digestibility of the residue, because the effective removal of lignin and hemicellulose makes cellulose fibres more accessible to cellulases. Morphological study of biomass shows that the tightly packed fibres in the Miscanthus were dismantled and exposed under NaOH condition. We studied sugar degradation under microwave assisted H 2 SO 4 conditions. The results shows that 6-8% biomass was converted into levulinic acid (LA) during pretreatment, showing the possibility of using microwave technology to produce LA from biomass. The outcome of this work shows great potential for using microwave in the thermo-chemical pretreatment for biomass and also selective production of LA from biomass.
Microwave assisted acid and alkali pretreatment of Miscanthus biomas s for biorefineries
Zongyuan Zhu,Rachael Simister,Susannah M. Bird,S. McQueen-Mason,L. Gomez,D. Macquarrie
Published 2015 in Unknown venue
ABSTRACT
PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2015
- Venue
Unknown venue
- Publication date
2015-10-12
- Fields of study
Materials Science, Engineering, Environmental Science
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar
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CLAIMS
CONCEPTS
- cellulose
The main structural polysaccharide in plant cell walls that remains after partial pretreatment of biomass.
- glucose yield
The fraction of glucose obtained or released from the biomass under a given treatment condition.
- hemicellulose
A structural polysaccharide in plant cell walls that is part of the biomass matrix processed here.
- levulinic acid
A platform chemical formed from carbohydrate degradation products during biomass pretreatment.
Aliases: LA
- lignin removal
The extraction or reduction of lignin from the biomass during pretreatment.
Aliases: effective removal of lignin
- microwave-assisted pretreatment
A pretreatment method that uses microwave energy to accelerate chemical treatment of biomass.
Aliases: microwave pretreatment, microwave-assisted acid and alkali pretreatment
- miscanthus biomass
Lignocellulosic feedstock derived from Miscanthus plants and used here as the processed material.
Aliases: Miscanthus, Miscanthus biomas s
- sodium hydroxide pretreatment
An alkaline pretreatment that uses NaOH to modify biomass structure before downstream conversion.
Aliases: NaOH pretreatment, alkali pretreatment
- sugar yield
The proportion of available carbohydrates converted into soluble sugars during pretreatment or conversion.
Aliases: total sugar yield
- sulfuric acid pretreatment
An acid pretreatment that uses H2SO4 to hydrolyze biomass components before downstream conversion.
Aliases: H2SO4 pretreatment, acid pretreatment
- water pretreatment
A hot-water or water-based pretreatment used as a comparison condition for biomass processing.
Aliases: water
- xylose yield
The fraction of xylose obtained or released from the biomass under a given treatment condition.
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