PRELIMINARY STUDIES ON THE MICROWAVE TREATMENT ON THE ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS OF THE BAGASSE

Abstract

The decrease of the fossil fuels stocks and environment deterioration have required the searching of renewable sources, among them, the lignocellulose biomass (LCB) constitutes a safe and inexhaustible alternative as the base for the future industry according to the modern concept of biorefinery. The LCB has a very complex structure where their components are strongly bonded, that is why their separation requires several stages of the consumption of chemical and energy. The microwave is one of the new technologies used for the conversion of the LCB into products of high added value. The objective of this paper has been to explore the influence of the treatment with microwaves on the hydrolyzed bagasse in order to get cellulose pulp. This material is treated with different concentrations of sodium hydroxide (14, 17 and 20 %) and microwaves exposure times (15, 30 and 45 minutes). The temperature (88 ºC), the particle size, the solid to liquid ratio and the microwaves power are kept constants. The solid phase is characterized by means of its chemical composition, while the liquid
phase is characterized by means of the contents of total sugars. The higher value of cellulose content (83.2 %) is obtained with 20 % of sodium hydroxide at 30 minutes of microwave exposition and 88 ºC, which is comparable with the results obtained by the traditional pulping method at 160 ºC.