Impact of Hot-Water Extraction on Acetone-Water Oxygen Delignification of Paulownia Spp. and Lignin Recovery

Energies

Chen Gong¹ 

[1] Department of Paper and Bioprocess Engineering, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA; E-Mail

关键词: hot-water extraction;    acetone-water oxygen delignification;    Paulownia tomentosa;    Paulownia elongata;    Acer saccharum;    organosolv lignin;   

DOI  :  10.3390/en7020857

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

A hardwood-based biorefinery process starting with hot-water extraction (HWE) is recommended in order to remove most of the hemicelluloses/xylans before further processing. HWE may be followed by delignification in acetone/water in the presence of oxygen (AWO) for the production of cellulose and lignin. In this study, the HWE-AWO sequence was evaluated for its effectiveness at removing lignin from the fast-growing species Paulownia tomentosa (PT) and Paulownia elongata (PE), in comparison with the reference species, sugar maple (Acer saccharum, SM). HWE might lead to a remarkable increase in lignin accessibility, and as a result, a greater AWO delignification degree was observed for extracted PT, PE, and SM than for unextracted ones. Organosolv lignin was recovered from the spent liquor of AWO delignification of PT with/without prior HWE and characterized to evaluate the benefits of HWE on the lignin structure and purity. The lignin recovered from the spent liquor of HWE-AWO sequence is of higher purity and lighter color than that recovered from the AWO spent liquor. These properties along with low sulfur content are desirable for lignin high-value applications.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.