Formosolv Pretreatment to Fractionate Paulownia Wood Following a Biorefinery Approach: Isolation and Characterization of the Lignin Fraction
Paulownia is a rapid-growth tree with a high biomass production rate per year and low demand of water, which make it very suitable for intercropping systems, as it protects the crops from adverse climatic conditions, benefiting the harvest yields. Moreover, these characteristics make Paulownia a sui...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Agronomy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/8/1205 |
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| author | Elena Domínguez Pablo G. del Río Aloia Romaní Gil Garrote Patricia Gullón Alberto de Vega |
| author_facet | Elena Domínguez Pablo G. del Río Aloia Romaní Gil Garrote Patricia Gullón Alberto de Vega |
| author_sort | Elena Domínguez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Paulownia is a rapid-growth tree with a high biomass production rate per year and low demand of water, which make it very suitable for intercropping systems, as it protects the crops from adverse climatic conditions, benefiting the harvest yields. Moreover, these characteristics make Paulownia a suitable raw material able to be fractionated in an integrated biorefinery scheme to obtain multiple products using a cascade conversion approach. Different delignification pretreatments of biomass have been purposed as a first stage of a lignocellulosic biorefinery. In this study, the formosolv delignification of Paulownia wood was investigated using a second order face-centered factorial design to assess the effects of the independent variables (concentrations of formic and hydrochloric acids and reaction time) on the fractionation of Paulownia wood. The maximum delignification achieved in this study (78.5%) was obtained under following conditions: 60 min, and 95% and 0.05% formic and hydrochloric acid, respectively. In addition, the remained solid phases were analyzed to determine their cellulose content and cooking liquors were also chemically analyzed and characterized. Finally, the recovered lignin by precipitation from formosolv liquor and the pristine lignin (milled wood lignin) in Paulownia wood were characterized and compared by the following techniques FTIR, NMR, high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) and TGA. This complete characterization allowed verifying the capacity of the formosolv process to act on the lignin, causing changes in its structure, which included both phenomena of depolymerization and condensation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:20:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8925812c8be847df8197bd7e8faae759 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4395 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:20:32Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agronomy |
| spelling | doaj.art-8925812c8be847df8197bd7e8faae7592023-11-20T10:20:59ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952020-08-01108120510.3390/agronomy10081205Formosolv Pretreatment to Fractionate Paulownia Wood Following a Biorefinery Approach: Isolation and Characterization of the Lignin FractionElena Domínguez0Pablo G. del Río1Aloia Romaní2Gil Garrote3Patricia Gullón4Alberto de Vega5Technological Centre of Multisectorial Research (CETIM), Business Park of Alvedro, 15181 Culleredo, SpainDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science, Universidade de Vigo (Campus Ourense), As Lagoas, 32004 Ourense, SpainCenter of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus of Gualtar, 4710 057 Braga, PortugalDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science, Universidade de Vigo (Campus Ourense), As Lagoas, 32004 Ourense, SpainDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science, Universidade de Vigo (Campus Ourense), As Lagoas, 32004 Ourense, SpainGroup of Environmental Chemical Engineering (EnQA), Centro de Investigacións Científicas Avanzadas (CICA), Dept. of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Univerdade da Coruña, As Carballeiras, s/n, 15071 A Coruña, SpainPaulownia is a rapid-growth tree with a high biomass production rate per year and low demand of water, which make it very suitable for intercropping systems, as it protects the crops from adverse climatic conditions, benefiting the harvest yields. Moreover, these characteristics make Paulownia a suitable raw material able to be fractionated in an integrated biorefinery scheme to obtain multiple products using a cascade conversion approach. Different delignification pretreatments of biomass have been purposed as a first stage of a lignocellulosic biorefinery. In this study, the formosolv delignification of Paulownia wood was investigated using a second order face-centered factorial design to assess the effects of the independent variables (concentrations of formic and hydrochloric acids and reaction time) on the fractionation of Paulownia wood. The maximum delignification achieved in this study (78.5%) was obtained under following conditions: 60 min, and 95% and 0.05% formic and hydrochloric acid, respectively. In addition, the remained solid phases were analyzed to determine their cellulose content and cooking liquors were also chemically analyzed and characterized. Finally, the recovered lignin by precipitation from formosolv liquor and the pristine lignin (milled wood lignin) in Paulownia wood were characterized and compared by the following techniques FTIR, NMR, high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) and TGA. This complete characterization allowed verifying the capacity of the formosolv process to act on the lignin, causing changes in its structure, which included both phenomena of depolymerization and condensation.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/8/1205organosolvfractionationlignincharacterizationPaulownia |
| spellingShingle | Elena Domínguez Pablo G. del Río Aloia Romaní Gil Garrote Patricia Gullón Alberto de Vega Formosolv Pretreatment to Fractionate Paulownia Wood Following a Biorefinery Approach: Isolation and Characterization of the Lignin Fraction Agronomy organosolv fractionation lignin characterization Paulownia |
| title | Formosolv Pretreatment to Fractionate Paulownia Wood Following a Biorefinery Approach: Isolation and Characterization of the Lignin Fraction |
| title_full | Formosolv Pretreatment to Fractionate Paulownia Wood Following a Biorefinery Approach: Isolation and Characterization of the Lignin Fraction |
| title_fullStr | Formosolv Pretreatment to Fractionate Paulownia Wood Following a Biorefinery Approach: Isolation and Characterization of the Lignin Fraction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Formosolv Pretreatment to Fractionate Paulownia Wood Following a Biorefinery Approach: Isolation and Characterization of the Lignin Fraction |
| title_short | Formosolv Pretreatment to Fractionate Paulownia Wood Following a Biorefinery Approach: Isolation and Characterization of the Lignin Fraction |
| title_sort | formosolv pretreatment to fractionate paulownia wood following a biorefinery approach isolation and characterization of the lignin fraction |
| topic | organosolv fractionation lignin characterization Paulownia |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/8/1205 |
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