Modelling of Low Temperature Dilute Sulfuric Acid Pre-treatment of South African Grass
Date
2018-12-01
Authors
Burman, N.W.
Sheridan, C.
van Dyk, L.
Harding, K.G.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
Dilute acid hydrolysis is an effective method of pre-treatment of lignocellulosic biomass. Although there are
many studies modelling this pre-treatment at high temperature (120–210 °C), no studies were found modelling
this reaction at low temperature. In this study, a long grass species was pre-treated with dilute sulfuric acid
(pH 1, 2 & 3) at low temperatures (35 °C, 65 °C, 90 °C). The hydrolysis of xylan was found to obey a bi-phasic
model in which there are two fractions of xylan, with significantly different hydrolysis rates. The rates of hydrolysis of the fast reacting fraction was found to obey Arrhenius type temperature dependence
(Ea = 155.06 kJ/mol, A0 = 1.65 × 1019/min), which agrees with findings of similar studies at higher temperatures. A negligible rate of hydrolysis was determined for the slow fraction which differs from previous
studies. The proportion of the slow reacting fraction (50%) which is lower than previously determined
(55%–100%).
Description
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Citation
Burman, N.W. et al. 2018. Modelling of Low Temperature Dilute Sulfuric Acid Pretreatment of South African Grass. Bioresource Technology Reports 4 Dec, pp.21-28.