A variety of physicochemical changes has been observed on hardwoods after hot-water extraction (HWE) in addition to the main effect of removing hemicelluloses for further processing and the production of fuels, chemicals, and materials.  The changes which include an increase in the content of free phenolic hydroxyl groups and porosity of wood and a decrease in the acetyl group content may be associated with an increased efficiency of delignification of hot-water extracted hardwoods.  A 3.5 to 6.5 times higher solubility of wood particles (30 mesh) in different organic solvents (Soxhlet extraction) has also been observed.  Moreover, a delignification effect has been observed for the acetone:water (AW 9/1) extraction of hot-water extracted wood (>17% of the total lignin removed).  In this study the potential for increasing the amenability of hot-water extracted wood for the production of pulp either for papermaking or for enzymatic hydrolysis was further explored by organic solvent extraction of hot-water extracted wood chips in an M/K digester at temperatures >100�C. Acetone:water solutions at different AW ratios were used as acetone is a relatively benign chemical and also a designed product of lignocellulosic biorefineries.  After the extraction, wood (model species: sugar maple) was refined on an 8'' Bauer single disc refiner with power measurement equipment. Refined pulp was screened and used for the production of handsheets (TAPPI procedure and appropriate paper tests). The pulp was also used to evaluate enzymatic hydrolysis (Cellic, CTec2, Novozymes) for the production of glucose. These studies are expected to help take advantage of a more accessible wood structure observed for hardwoods after HWE to enhance biorefinery operations for the production of high-yield pulp.

Processing of hot-water extracted hardwoods for the production of pulp for papermaking and enzymatic hydrolysis

247th National Meeting (2014)

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