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Poster Presentation 3-22
Effect of Flowrate on the Dissolution of Hemicellulose, Lignin, and Total Mass for Pretreatment of Corn Stover in a Flowthrough Reactor
Chaogang Liu and Charles E. Wyman
Thayer School of Engineering Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
Telephone: (603) 646-3193; Fax: (603) 646-2277; E-mail: charles.e.wyman@dartmouth.edu
Processing of biomass in a flowthrough reactor with hot water only, or with the addition of very low concentrations of sulfuric acid, displays a number of promising features for advanced biomass pretreatment, including high yields of hemicellulose sugars, production of highly digestible cellulose, low chemical use, and a less corrosive environment - but also suffers from high water consumption. In this study, a small tubular percolation flowthrough system was employed to study the effect of flowrate on the dissolution of corn stover, and it was found that hemicellulose recovery, total mass dissolution, and lignin removal all increased significantly with increasing flowrate with water only or with very dilute sulfuric acid (0.1%). For example, after 16 minutes at 180oC without acid addition, the fraction solids in the hydrolyzate increased from about 20 to 30% when the flowrate was increased from 1 to 10 mL/minute. Under the same conditions, total xylose recovery in the liquid increased from 20 to 60%, and Klason lignin removal increased from about 30 to 35%.
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