Search results for "pretreatment"
showing 10 items of 35 documents
Autohydrolysis pretreatment of Arundo donax: a comparison between microwave-assisted batch and fast heating rate flow-through reaction systems
2015
Background: Autohydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass in liquid hot water has been widely studied owing to its high efficiency and relatively low cost. In the perspective of industrial applications, continuous or semi-continuous processes are more interesting than batch systems. Moreover, microwave heating of pretreatment systems has been proposed to intensify the kinetics of the process. In this study, the autohydrolysis of Arundo donax was performed in pure liquid hot water using a microwave-heated batch reactor and a semi-continuous flow-through reaction system with fast heating rate at the same operating conditions with the aim of performing a systematic comparison between the two diffe…
Characterization of lignin dissolved during alkaline pretreatment of softwood and hardwood
2015
Various alkaline pretreatments were applied to Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and silver/white birch (Betula pendula/pubescens) wood chips and the characterization of sulfur-free lignin dissolved was performed. The behavior of lignin during these pretreatments (alkali charge 1–8% NaOH, time 30–120 minutes, and temperature 130–150°C) was studied mainly in terms of lignin removal efficiency and molar mass distribution of dissolved lignin. The amount of lignin in pretreatment liquors increased along with an increase in the alkali charge of 0.8–4.4% and 0.6–3.4% of o.d. pine and birch wood, respectively. The most significant parameter affecting the molar mass of the dissolved lignin was shown to…
How Effective and Safe Is Bronchial Thermoplasty in “Real Life” Asthmatics Compared to Those Enrolled in Randomized Clinical Trials?
2016
There is limited information on the efficacy and safety of bronchial thermoplasty (BT) inreal life. We evaluated the outcomes of the randomized clinical trials for BT in severe asthmatics, in whom the exclusion criteria were not strictly controlled. A case series of seven asthmatics (M/F: 4/3; age:54.6±2.9years) is reported. Subjects had a statistically significant improvement in AQLQ (from a mean of3.96±1.1to4.5±1.2and5.5±0.6after 6 and 12 months of treatment;p=0.0007) and in the ACQ score (from2.77±0.8to1.83±1.2and1.5±0.8after 6 and 12 months;p<0.001). In the year after BT, severe exacerbations, salbutamol use, and OCS use were significantly lower compared with the 1-yr pretreatment pe…
Valorisation of SWRO brines in a remote island through a circular approach: Techno-economic analysis and perspectives
2022
Nowadays, small remote islands rely heavily on desalination technologies to overcome freshwater scarcity. Unfortunately, these technologies are accompanied by the production of brines which can affect the receiving water bodies i.e., the aquatic ecosystem. Yet, it is extremely appealing how such brines constitute an abundant source of valuable raw materials (such as magnesium). In this work, a novel hybrid system is introduced to capture the value of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) brines produced in the minor Sicilian island of Pantelleria. The “Minimal Liquid Discharge” (MLD) process consists of: (i) Nanofiltration NF (separation of bivalent from monovalent ions), (ii) Mg Reactive Crystal…
Combustion properties of spruce black liquor droplets : Sulfur-free pulping and influence of hot-water pretreatment
2016
Hot-water pretreatment of lignocellulosics prior to sulfur-free alkaline pulping is an interesting approach for recovering value-added carbohydrate- and lignin-derived materials. This paper investigated the chemical composition variations and combustion properties of the black liquors (BLs) from three different cooking processes: two sulfur-free soda-anthraquinone (soda-AQ) and oxygen-alkali (O2-NaOH) cooks and kraft cook, before and after hot-water pretreatment of the spruce sawdust. Relatively less aliphatic acids but more lignin were present in the BLs after hot-water pretreatment as cooking time prolonged. In general, the burning time decreased as follows: soda-AQ BL > O2-NaOH BL ≅ kraf…
Pretreatment of trace element-enriched biomasses grown on phytomanaged soils for bioethanol production
2017
Abstract Phytotechnologies are a set of sustainable, ecological options notably for alleviating pollutant linkages induced by contaminated soils. However, concerns exist regarding the processing of trace elements (TE)-enriched biomass and the fate of TEs in the end-products. The fractionation of phytoremediation TE-enriched non-woody lignocellulosic (tobacco) and woody (birch, willow) phytoremediation-borne biomasses was studied using ethanol organosolv, soda and dilute acid pretreatments. TE distribution in the process fractions (pulp, liquid effluents and lignin) was further examined. In dilute acid conditions, a wood pretreatment performed at 170 °C in the presence of 2% w/w of sulfuric …
Selective Disintegration–Milling to Obtain Metal-Rich Particle Fractions from E-Waste
2022
This research was supported by ERDF project no. 1.1.1.1/20/A/139 “Development of sustainable recycling technology of electronic scrap for precious and non-ferrous metals extraction”. The project was co-financed by REACT-EU funding to mitigate the effects of the pandemic crisis. The article was published with the financial support from the Riga Technical University Research Support Fund. This research was also supported by the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2. The authors w…
Chemical Pretreatments of Wood Chips Prior to Alkaline Pulping - A Review of Pretreatment Alternatives, Chemical Aspects of the Resulting Liquors, an…
2015
The chemical industry is being forced to evaluate new strategies for more effective utilization of renewable feedstocks to diminish the use of fossil resources. In this literature review, the integration of both acidic and alkaline pretreatment phases of hardwood and softwood chips with chemical pulping is discussed. Depending on the pretreatment conditions, high-volume sulfur-free fractions with varying chemical compositions can be produced. In case of acidic pretreatments, the major products include carbohydrates (mono-, oligo-, and polysaccharides), whereas under alkaline (i.e., aqueous NaOH) pretreatment conditions, the sulfur-free fractions of aliphatic carboxylic acids, lignin, and ex…
Activated carbon from hydrolysis lignin: Effect of activation method on carbon properties
2022
This study presents the effects of different activation methods to produce activated carbon from the hydrolysis lignin. Pretreatment of the feedstock with common mineral acids (HCL, HNO3, and H3PO4), different steam rates for physical activation, and different chemical activating agents (ZnCl2, Na2CO3, and KOH) for chemical activation were investigated. The pretreated biomass was carbonized and activated in one-stage process and the surface characteristics, such as total pore volume, pore size distribution and specific surface area, were investigated. The results showed that the activated carbon surface properties were not greatly affected by acid pretreatment. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) …
Acid-catalyzed mechanocatalytic pretreatment to improve sugar release from birch sawdust : Structural and chemical aspects
2022
This study examined acid-catalyzed mechanocatalytic pretreatment of birch sawdust without a separate impregnation step. Catalyst amount and pretreatment time were the key variables. Pretreated material was mixed with water for hydrolysis (100 °C, 60 min). The efficient release of total reducing sugars from birch sawdust is significant to the path towards biofuels and biochemicals. Based on the results, the structure and surface of birch sawdust changed as a function of mechanocatalytic pretreatment. Milling time caused significant transformations in birch structure and also increased the yields of reducing sugars. The highest yield of total reducing sugar from pretreated sawdust was 23.0% a…