FRACTIONATION OF SUGARCANE BAGASSE BY ACID PREHYDROLYSIS AND GLYCEROL TREATMENT

Abstract

The use of lignocellulosic materials as sources of biofuels, chemicals, and foodstuffs in future biorefineries is an issue of growing scientific interest. Refining lignocellulosic biomass involves the fractionation of the raw material using different methods, including the use of acids and organic solvents. The use of glycerol in refining lignocellulosic bioresources would allow the utilisation of the surplus of that by-product of the biodiesel production. In this work, the use of glycerol in the delignification of sugarcane bagasse is investigated. The delignification was performed with 50% (w/w) glycerol, at 121oC for 2 h either with or without NaOH catalysis. The combination of acid prehydrolysis (at 121, 160 and 195oC) with glycerol treatment was also investigated. Both direct and combined treatments led to high lignin removal and good preservation of cellulose. The best effectiveness was achieved in the combined treatment with prehydrolysis at 121oC, which resulted in the solubilisation of 74.4 % of the lignin contained in raw bagasse, with 64.4 % of it recovered in solid state. Furthermore, that treatment led to a considerable hemicelluloses solubilisation and to the recovery in the pulp of 94.4 % of the initial cellulose.