Wheat (Triticum) is an annual cereal grain plant in the family of grasses and constitutes almost 50% of the total grain harvest in Sweden. Wheat straw is an abundant by-product of wheat production and consists of mainly cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses, and small amounts of proteins, starch, and inorganics (primarily Si and K). The fact that wheat is an annual plant while wood is perennial is one reason why the straw anatomy is very different from wood with a heterogeneous hierarchical organization of biomass cell structures. Wheat straw has a higher content of non-fibrous cells than wood and further differs significantly with respect to lignin structure, distribution, morphology, and linkage patterns. Thermochemical, thermomechanical, and fermentation processes for wheat straw have been reported and are in some cases commercially used for the production of paper, feed, bioethanol, and composite reinforcing fibers. It is yet to be understood how to treat the straw lignocellulose to provide accessible interphases and enable thermoplasticization with as minor modification as possible. We devise hydrothermal fractionation processes and investigate key parameters for converting the pristine straw into one or a few viable lignocellulosic materials with partly liberated fibers and/or softened cell walls. The presentation will highlight the morphology, chemistry, and thermal performance of wheat lignocellulosic materials, as well as process-structure relationships.

Utilizing wheat straw as a lignocellulosic feedstock for thermoplastic materials

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