Fractionation of eucalyptus globulus wood by glycerol-water pretreatment : opti...

• Autor(es): Romaní, Aloia ; Ruíz, Héctor A. ; Pereira, Francisco B. ; Domingues, Lucília ; Teixeira, J. A.
• Data: 2013
• Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/27613
• Origem: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Tipo de Documento: Artigo
• Idioma: Inglês

Descrição

A glycerol-organosolv process can be a good alternative for Eucalyptus wood fractionation into its main compounds, improving the enzymatic saccharification of the cellulose. A study of process variables - glycerol−water percent content, temperature, and process time - was carried out using a Box-Behnken experimental design. The cellulose obtained from pretreated solids was recovered almost quantitatively, leading to a solid with a high percentage of cellulose (77 g/100 g of pretreated solid), low lignin content (9 g/100 g of pretreated solid), and 18% of residual hemicellulose in the solid at 200 °C, 56% of glycerol−water and 69 min. The enzymatic saccharification was enhanced achieving 98% cellulose-to-glucose conversion (under conditions: liquid to solid ratio 20 g/g and enzyme loading 20 FPU/g of solid). This study contributes to the improvement of biomass fractionation by exploring an eco-friendly treatment which allows for almost complete wood fractionation into constituents and high levels of glucose recovery available for subsequent yeast fermentation to bioethanol.