Organosolv Fractionation of Birch Sawdust: Establishing a Lignin-First Biorefinery

The use of residual biomass for bioconversions makes it possible to decrease the output of fossil-based chemicals and pursue a greener economy. While the use of lignocellulosic material as sustainable feedstock has been tried at pilot scale, industrial production is not yet economically feasible, re...

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Autores principales:	Maxwel Monção, Kateřina Hrůzová, Ulrika Rova, Leonidas Matsakas, Paul Christakopoulos
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	organosolv pretreatment birch sawdust fractionation Organic chemistry QD241-441
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ecc3cfa789f14ab481575f0fcd2760cf
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ecc3cfa789f14ab481575f0fcd2760cf2021-11-11T18:40:56ZOrganosolv Fractionation of Birch Sawdust: Establishing a Lignin-First Biorefinery10.3390/molecules262167541420-3049https://doaj.org/article/ecc3cfa789f14ab481575f0fcd2760cf2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/21/6754https://doaj.org/toc/1420-3049The use of residual biomass for bioconversions makes it possible to decrease the output of fossil-based chemicals and pursue a greener economy. While the use of lignocellulosic material as sustainable feedstock has been tried at pilot scale, industrial production is not yet economically feasible, requiring further technology and feedstock optimization. The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of replacing woodchips with residual sawdust in biorefinery applications. Woodchips can be used in value-added processes such as paper pulp production, whereas sawdust is currently used mainly for combustion. The main advantages of sawdust are its large supply and a particle size sufficiently small for the pretreatment process. Whereas, the main challenge is the higher complexity of the lignocellulosic biomass, as it can contain small amounts of bark and cambium. Here, we studied the fractionation of birch sawdust by organosolv pretreatment at two different temperatures and for two different durations. We evaluated the efficiency of fractionation into the three main fractions: lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose. The cellulose content in pretreated biomass was as high as 69.2%, which was nearly double the amount in untreated biomass. The obtained lignin was of high purity, with a maximum 4.5% of contaminating sugars. Subsequent evaluation of the susceptibility of pretreated solids to enzymatic saccharification revealed glucose yields ranging from 75% to 90% after 48 h but reaching 100.0% under the best conditions. In summary, birch sawdust can be successfully utilized as a feedstock for organosolv fractionation and replace woodchips to simplify and lower the costs of biorefinery processes.Maxwel MonçãoKateřina HrůzováUlrika RovaLeonidas MatsakasPaul ChristakopoulosMDPI AGarticleorganosolv pretreatmentbirchsawdustfractionationOrganic chemistryQD241-441ENMolecules, Vol 26, Iss 6754, p 6754 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	organosolv pretreatment birch sawdust fractionation Organic chemistry QD241-441
spellingShingle	organosolv pretreatment birch sawdust fractionation Organic chemistry QD241-441 Maxwel Monção Kateřina Hrůzová Ulrika Rova Leonidas Matsakas Paul Christakopoulos Organosolv Fractionation of Birch Sawdust: Establishing a Lignin-First Biorefinery
description	The use of residual biomass for bioconversions makes it possible to decrease the output of fossil-based chemicals and pursue a greener economy. While the use of lignocellulosic material as sustainable feedstock has been tried at pilot scale, industrial production is not yet economically feasible, requiring further technology and feedstock optimization. The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of replacing woodchips with residual sawdust in biorefinery applications. Woodchips can be used in value-added processes such as paper pulp production, whereas sawdust is currently used mainly for combustion. The main advantages of sawdust are its large supply and a particle size sufficiently small for the pretreatment process. Whereas, the main challenge is the higher complexity of the lignocellulosic biomass, as it can contain small amounts of bark and cambium. Here, we studied the fractionation of birch sawdust by organosolv pretreatment at two different temperatures and for two different durations. We evaluated the efficiency of fractionation into the three main fractions: lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose. The cellulose content in pretreated biomass was as high as 69.2%, which was nearly double the amount in untreated biomass. The obtained lignin was of high purity, with a maximum 4.5% of contaminating sugars. Subsequent evaluation of the susceptibility of pretreated solids to enzymatic saccharification revealed glucose yields ranging from 75% to 90% after 48 h but reaching 100.0% under the best conditions. In summary, birch sawdust can be successfully utilized as a feedstock for organosolv fractionation and replace woodchips to simplify and lower the costs of biorefinery processes.
format	article
author	Maxwel Monção Kateřina Hrůzová Ulrika Rova Leonidas Matsakas Paul Christakopoulos
author_facet	Maxwel Monção Kateřina Hrůzová Ulrika Rova Leonidas Matsakas Paul Christakopoulos
author_sort	Maxwel Monção
title	Organosolv Fractionation of Birch Sawdust: Establishing a Lignin-First Biorefinery
title_short	Organosolv Fractionation of Birch Sawdust: Establishing a Lignin-First Biorefinery
title_full	Organosolv Fractionation of Birch Sawdust: Establishing a Lignin-First Biorefinery
title_fullStr	Organosolv Fractionation of Birch Sawdust: Establishing a Lignin-First Biorefinery
title_full_unstemmed	Organosolv Fractionation of Birch Sawdust: Establishing a Lignin-First Biorefinery
title_sort	organosolv fractionation of birch sawdust: establishing a lignin-first biorefinery
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/ecc3cfa789f14ab481575f0fcd2760cf
work_keys_str_mv	AT maxwelmoncao organosolvfractionationofbirchsawdustestablishingaligninfirstbiorefinery AT katerinahruzova organosolvfractionationofbirchsawdustestablishingaligninfirstbiorefinery AT ulrikarova organosolvfractionationofbirchsawdustestablishingaligninfirstbiorefinery AT leonidasmatsakas organosolvfractionationofbirchsawdustestablishingaligninfirstbiorefinery AT paulchristakopoulos organosolvfractionationofbirchsawdustestablishingaligninfirstbiorefinery
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Organosolv Fractionation of Birch Sawdust: Establishing a Lignin-First Biorefinery

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