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Lignocellulosic Materials (lignocellulosic + material)
Selected AbstractsUse of ionic liquids for the efficient utilization of lignocellulosic materialsJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 6 2008Shengdong Zhu Abstract Lignocellulosic materials are the most abundant renewable resource in the world and their efficient utilization provides a practical route to maintain social sustainable development. Application of ionic liquids has opened new avenues for the efficient utilization of lignocellulosic materials in such areas as fractionation, preparation of cellulose composites and derivatives, analysis, and removal of pollutants. However, there are still many challenges in putting these potential applications into practical use, for example, the high price of ionic liquids and lack of basic physico-chemical and toxicological data. Further research and financial support are required to address such challenges. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Enzymatic digestion of liquid hot water pretreated hybrid poplarBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2009Youngmi Kim Abstract Liquid hot (LHW) water pretreatment (LHW) of lignocellulosic material enhances enzymatic conversion of cellulose to glucose by solubilizing hemicellulose fraction of the biomass, while leaving the cellulose more reactive and accessible to cellulase enzymes. Within the range of pretreatment conditions tested in this study, the optimized LHW pretreatment conditions for a 15% (wt/vol) slurry of hybrid poplar were found to be 200oC, 10 min, which resulted in the highest fermentable sugar yield with minimal formation of sugar decomposition products during the pretreatment. The LHW pretreatment solubilized 62% of hemicellulose as soluble oligomers. Hot-washing of the pretreated poplar slurry increased the efficiency of hydrolysis by doubling the yield of glucose for a given enzyme dose. The 15% (wt/vol) slurry of hybrid poplar, pretreated at the optimal conditions and hot-washed, resulted in 54% glucose yield by 15 FPU cellulase per gram glucan after 120 h. The hydrolysate contained 56 g/L glucose and 12 g/L xylose. The effect of cellulase loading on the enzymatic digestibility of the pretreated poplar is also reported. Total monomeric sugar yield (glucose and xylose) reached 67% after 72 h of hydrolysis when 40 FPU cellulase per gram glucan were used. An overall mass balance of the poplar-to-ethanol process was established based on the experimentally determined composition and hydrolysis efficiencies of the liquid hot water pretreated poplar. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2009 [source] Enzymatic deconstruction of xylan for biofuel productionGCB BIOENERGY, Issue 1 2009DYLAN DODD Abstract The combustion of fossil-derived fuels has a significant impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and correspondingly is an important contributor to anthropogenic global climate change. Plants have evolved photosynthetic mechanisms in which solar energy is used to fix CO2 into carbohydrates. Thus, combustion of biofuels, derived from plant biomass, can be considered a potentially carbon neutral process. One of the major limitations for efficient conversion of plant biomass to biofuels is the recalcitrant nature of the plant cell wall, which is composed mostly of lignocellulosic materials (lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose). The heteropolymer xylan represents the most abundant hemicellulosic polysaccharide and is composed primarily of xylose, arabinose, and glucuronic acid. Microbes have evolved a plethora of enzymatic strategies for hydrolyzing xylan into its constituent sugars for subsequent fermentation to biofuels. Therefore, microorganisms are considered an important source of biocatalysts in the emerging biofuel industry. To produce an optimized enzymatic cocktail for xylan deconstruction, it will be valuable to gain insight at the molecular level of the chemical linkages and the mechanisms by which these enzymes recognize their substrates and catalyze their reactions. Recent advances in genomics, proteomics, and structural biology have revolutionized our understanding of the microbial xylanolytic enzymes. This review focuses on current understanding of the molecular basis for substrate specificity and catalysis by enzymes involved in xylan deconstruction. [source] Enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse for bioethanol production: determining optimal enzyme loading using neural networksJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 7 2010Elmer Ccopa Rivera Abstract BACKGROUND: The efficient production of a fermentable hydrolyzate is an immensely important requirement in the utilization of lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock in bioethanol production processes. The identification of the optimal enzyme loading is of particular importance to maximize the amount of glucose produced from lignocellulosic materials while maintaining low costs. This requirement can only be achieved by incorporating reliable methodologies to properly address the optimization problem. RESULTS: In this work, a data-driven technique based on artificial neural networks and design of experiments have been integrated in order to identify the optimal enzyme combination. The enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse was used as a case study. This technique was used to build up a model of the combined effects of cellulase (FPU/L) and ,-glucosidase (CBU/L) loads on glucose yield (%) after enzymatic hydrolysis. The optimal glucose yield, above 99%, was achieved with cellulase and ,-glucosidase concentrations in the ranges of 460.0 to 580.0 FPU L,1 (15.3,19.3 FPU g,1 bagasse) and 750.0 to 1140.0 CBU L,1 (2,38 CBU g,1 bagasse), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The dynamic model developed can be used not only to the prediction of glucose concentration profiles for different enzymatic loadings, but also to obtain the optimum enzymes loading that leads to high glucose yield. It can promote both a successful hydrolysis process control and a more effective employment of enzymes. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Hydrothermal processing of rice husks: effects of severity on product distributionJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 7 2008Rodolfo Vegas Abstract BACKGROUND: Treatment in aqueous media (hydrothermal or autohydrolysis reactions) is an environmentally friendly technology for fractionating lignocellulosic materials. Rice husks were subjected to hydrothermal processing under a variety of operational conditions to cause the selective breakdown of xylan chains, in order to assess the effects of reaction severity on the distribution of reaction products. RESULTS: The effects of severity (measured by the severity factor, R0) on the concentrations of the major autohydrolysis products (monosaccharides, xylo- and glucooligosaccharides, xylooligosaccharide substituents, acetic acid, acid-soluble lignin and elemental nitrogen) were assessed. The interrelationship between the severity of treatment and molecular weight distribution was established by high-performance size-exclusion chromatography. Selected samples were subjected to refining treatments as ethyl acetate extraction and ion exchange for refining purposes, and the concentrates were assayed by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. CONCLUSIONS The protein equivalent of the products present in liquors accounted for 43 to 51% of the protein present in the raw rice husks. The concentrations of glucose (derived from starchy material) and arabinose (split from the xylan backbone) were fairly constant with severity. Even in treatments at low severity, high molecular weight compounds derived from xylan accounted for a limited part of the stoichiometric amount. Operating under harsh conditions, about 50% of the total xylan-derived compounds corresponded to fractions with a degree of polymerization (DP) < 9. After refining, saccharides accounted for more than 90% of the non-volatile components of the sample. The refined products showed a series of xylose oligomers up to about DP 13, and a series of acetylated xylose oligomers up to about DP 15. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Use of ionic liquids for the efficient utilization of lignocellulosic materialsJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 6 2008Shengdong Zhu Abstract Lignocellulosic materials are the most abundant renewable resource in the world and their efficient utilization provides a practical route to maintain social sustainable development. Application of ionic liquids has opened new avenues for the efficient utilization of lignocellulosic materials in such areas as fractionation, preparation of cellulose composites and derivatives, analysis, and removal of pollutants. However, there are still many challenges in putting these potential applications into practical use, for example, the high price of ionic liquids and lack of basic physico-chemical and toxicological data. Further research and financial support are required to address such challenges. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Unmodified and Modified Surface Sisal Fibers as Reinforcement of Phenolic and Lignophenolic Matrices Composites: Thermal Analyses of Fibers and CompositesMACROMOLECULAR MATERIALS & ENGINEERING, Issue 4 2006Jane Maria Faulstich de Paiva Abstract Summary: The study and development of polymeric composite materials, especially using lignocellulosic fibers, have received increasing attention. This is interesting from the environmental and economical viewpoints as lignocellulosic fibers are obtained from renewable resources. This work aims to contribute to reduce the dependency on materials from nonrenewable sources, by utilizing natural fibers (sisal) as reinforcing agents and lignin (a polyphenolic macromolecule obtained from lignocellulosic materials) to partially substitute phenol in a phenol-formaldehyde resin. Besides, it was intended to evaluate how modifications applied on sisal fibers influence their properties and those of the composites reinforced with them, mainly thermal properties. Sisal fibers were modified by either (i) mercerization (NaOH 10%), (ii) esterification (succinic anhydride), or (iii) ionized air treatment (discharge current of 5 mA). Composites were made by mould compression, of various sisal fibers in combination with either phenol-formaldehyde or lignin-phenol-formaldehyde resins. Sisal fibers and composites were characterized by thermogravimetry (TG) and DSC to establish their thermal stability. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the morphology of unmodified and modified surface sisal fibers as well as the fractured composites surface. Dynamic mechanical thermoanalysis (DMTA) was used to examine the influence of temperature on the composite mechanical properties. The results obtained for sisal fiber-reinforced phenolic and lignophenolic composites showed that the use of lignin as a partial substitute of phenol in phenolic resins in applications different from the traditional ones, as for instance in other than adhesives is feasible. Micrograph of the impact fracture surface of phenolic composite reinforced with mercerized sisal fiber (500 X). [source] | ||||||||||