Structural changes in lignin during integrated process of steam explosion followed by alkaline hydrogen peroxide of Eucommia ulmoides Oliver and its effect on enzymatic hydrolysis

Ming-Qiang Zhu, Jia-Long Wen, Zhi-Wen Wang, Yin-Quan Su, Qin Wei and Run-Cang Sun

Applied Energy, 2015, vol. 158, issue C, 233-242

Abstract: Eucommia ulmoides Oliver (EU) wood was successively treated by a combined system based on steam explosion pretreatment (SEP) and alkaline hydrogen peroxide post-treatment (AHPP). In this case, SEP was to disrupt the lignocellulosic structure, and the subsequent AHPP process was to isolate the high-purity lignin and cellulose-rich substrates. Results showed that the lignin fractions obtained during the AHPP exhibited smaller molecular weights, narrow polydispersity, less phenolic OH groups and lower syringyl/guaiacyl ratios (S/G) than those of the milled wood lignin (SEMWL) obtained from the only steam exploded EU. NMR characterization of lignin revealed that the AHPP process has a slight effect on the composition and molecular characteristic of lignin, and the lignin isolated had lower amounts of substructures (aryl-β-ether, resinol, and phenylcoumaran linkages) as compared to those in SEMWL. Moreover, the subsequent SEP followed by AHPP process enhanced the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose-rich substrates to a maximum value of 91.69%. It was found that the synergistic treatment removed most of lignin, degraded hemicelluloses, and incurred a higher crystalline index and surface area of the cellulose-rich substrates as compared to the only steam explosion pretreatment. The combination of the SEP and AHPP processes is an environmentally benign and advantageous scheme for the production of high-purity lignin and cellulose-rich substrates, which will be further transformed into the value-added biomaterials and bioethanol.

Keywords: Eucommia ulmoides Oliver; Steam explosion pretreatment; Alkaline hydrogen peroxide post-treatment; Lignin; Enzyme hydrolysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261915010211
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:158:y:2015:i:c:p:233-242

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.08.085

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().