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Poster Presentation 1-14
The Role of Oligomers in Uncatalyzed Batch Hydrolysis of Corn Stover Hemicellulose
Suzanne Stuhler and Charles E. Wyman
Thayer School of Engineering Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755
Telephone: (603) 646-3193; Fax: (603) 646-2277; E-mail: charles.e.wyman@dartmouth.edu
Although oligomers are typically viewed as reaction intermediaries for hemicellulose hydrolysis, they are seldom included in kinetic models. However, recent studies have shown that oligomers may play a more important role in hemicellulose hydrolysis than previously envisioned. In addition, a better understanding of oligomer kinetics could prove important to improving and commercially applying pretreatment by hemicellulose hydrolysis. Thus, the primary goal of this study is to further study the fate of oligomers in hemicellulose hydrolysis. First, a novel kinetic model was created for a simple batch tube system to include heat transfer effects, and dimensionless criteria were developed to define when such batch processes would be expected to follow isothermal operation and when heat transfer effects would influence results. This model also predicts that thermal transients will reduce oligomer concentrations compared to isothermal operation. Experimental data were then acquired in a series of batch laboratory experiments to determine the effects of reaction time and temperature on oligomer profiles for corn stover hemicellulose. Using these results, a model of oligomer kinetics including possible mass transfer and solubility effects will be presented.
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