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A novel hybrid organosolv: steam explosion method for the efficient fractionation and pretreatment of birch biomass

Authors :
Leonidas Matsakas
Christos Nitsos
Vijayendran Raghavendran
Olga Yakimenko
Gustav Persson
Eva Olsson
Ulrika Rova
Lisbeth Olsson
Paul Christakopoulos
Source :
Biotechnology for Biofuels, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-14 (2018)
Publication Year :
2018
Publisher :
BMC, 2018.

Abstract

Abstract Background The main role of pretreatment is to reduce the natural biomass recalcitrance and thus enhance saccharification yield. A further prerequisite for efficient utilization of all biomass components is their efficient fractionation into well-defined process streams. Currently available pretreatment methods only partially fulfill these criteria. Steam explosion, for example, excels as a pretreatment method but has limited potential for fractionation, whereas organosolv is excellent for delignification but offers poor biomass deconstruction. Results In this article, a hybrid method combining the cooking and fractionation of conventional organosolv pretreatment with the implementation of an explosive discharge of the cooking mixture at the end of pretreatment was developed. The effects of various pretreatment parameters (ethanol content, duration, and addition of sulfuric acid) were evaluated. Pretreatment of birch at 200 °C with 60% v/v ethanol and 1% w/wbiomass H2SO4 was proven to be the most efficient pretreatment condition yielding pretreated solids with 77.9% w/w cellulose, 8.9% w/w hemicellulose, and 7.0 w/w lignin content. Under these conditions, high delignification of 86.2% was demonstrated. The recovered lignin was of high purity, with cellulose and hemicellulose contents not exceeding 0.31 and 3.25% w/w, respectively, and ash to be

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
17546834
Volume :
11
Issue :
1
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Biotechnology for Biofuels
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.fde687725b764fb1b069c9e5b852e95b
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-018-1163-3