Title:
Biorefining of Eucalyptus Biomass Using Gamma-Valerolacetone
Author(s):
Trevorah, R.M., Othman, M.Z.
Document(s):
Paper
Poster
Abstract:
This project aimed at investigating the potential of the organic solvent Gamma-Valerolacetone (GVL) for the fractionation of eucalyptus biomass. Temperature, GVL concentration and treatment duration were previously investigated over the range of 120-180°C, 35-50% w/w and 0.5-2.0 hours, respectively. The optimization of the process produced a biomass with 89.3% w/w cellulose, 5.5% w/w lignin and >1% hemicellulose. Further investigation into GVL fractionation showed that upscaling of the reactor by 50% produced no significant change to the fractionation of sawdust. Analysis of the solid cellulose enhanced fraction using NMR and SEM showed that increasing temperature and solvent concentration during GVL fractionation highly crystalline cellulose fibrils would become isolated and aggregated as the lignin-hemicellulose matrix was solubilized. The increase in crystallinity index for these cellulose fibril aggregates was 2.06 times the crystallinity of untreated eucalyptus fibrils. This indicates that much of the hydrolysed cellulose during the fractionation process was in fact the amorphous cellulose surrounding the highly crystalline internal fibrils. These results show that GVL fractionation is a promising process that can be integrated into a biorefinery system. Further investigation into GVL recovery is needed to ensure the economic viability of the system.
Keywords:
cellulose, lignocellulose, pretreatment
Topic:
Biomass Conversion Technologies for Fuels, Chemicals and Materials
Subtopic:
Biorefineries
Event:
26th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
3BV.7.9
Pages:
1106 - 1110
ISBN:
978-88-89407-18-9
Paper DOI:
10.5071/26thEUBCE2018-3BV.7.9
Price:
FREE
