Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of Mechanical Pretreatment for Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Woody Residues, Corn Stover and Alfalfa

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Waste and Biomass Valorization Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This work aimed to investigate the effects of biomass species on fermentable sugar production, with respect to both energy consumption and sugar yield, using the modified traditional mechanical system from Pulp & Paper Mills as a potential biorefinery step. The study explored four lignocellulosic biomass species including corn stover, alfalfa, white birch and black spruce during the pretreatment process with and without the addition of NaOH. This was followed by a disk refining pretreatment under various operating conditions of gap size and consistency through a pilot scaled disk refining system. The study characterized and analyzed the chemical components and sugar streams obtained from the biomasses using the thermochemical and refining pretreatment and also analyzed the energy consumption of the disk refining system. The results show that for all the biomasses, the thermochemical process mainly removed lignin and hemicelluloses through a steaming pretreatment. From low to high, the lignin contents of the four biomasses are shown as follows: corn stover, alfalfa, white birch and black spruce. With respect to the refining pretreatment, when the gap size remains constant, black spruce has the longest fibers while corn stover has the shortest. Moreover, using enzymatic hydrolysis to evaluate the sugar yield revealed that the thermochemical pretreatment increased the sugar yield in accordance with how much lignin was removed from each biomass as well as their final lignin content. However, the additional refining treatment had a greater effect on corn stover and alfalfa than on white birch and black spruce due to the reduction in fiber length. Therefore, with respect to existing mechanical refining equipment, the modified thermochemical disk refining pretreatment (TCDRP) has a greater effect on agricultural biomass and hardwood (white birch). Specifically, the sugar yield of the TCDRP corn stover was the highest (97.3%) when compared to the other biomasses, while its energy consumption was 196 kWh/ton.

Graphic Abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Tester, J.W.: Sustainable Energy: Choosing Among Options. MIT press, Cambridge (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Maity, S.K.: Opportunities, recent trends and challenges of integrated biorefinery: part II. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 43, 1427–1445 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Liu, S., Lu, H., Hu, R., Shupe, A., Lin, L., Liang, B.: A sustainable woody biomass biorefinery. Biotechnol. Adv. 30, 785–810 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Sousa G.D.A.: Biorefinery development pathways: a survey for the pulp and paper industry. Presented at the XXI Encontro Nacional da TECNICELPA/VI CIADICYP 2010,12-15 Outubro 2010, Lisboa, Portugal, 2010.

  5. Morales, M., Quintero, J., Conejeros, R., Aroca, G.: Life cycle assessment of lignocellulosic bioethanol: environmental impacts and energy balance. Renew. Sustain. Energy. Rev. 42, 1349–1361 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Biermann, C.J.: Handbook of Pulping and Papermaking. California, San Diego (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rowell, R.M.: Handbook of Wood Chemistry and Wood Composites. CRC Press, Boca Raton (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Berti M., Nudell R., Anfinrud R., Samarappuli D., Johnson B.: Forage resources as feedstocks for the biofuel industry in North Dakota. In: 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 2011, pp. 6–10.

  9. Xu, L., Tschirner, U.W.: Peracetic acid pretreatment of alfalfa stem and aspen biomass. BioResources 7, 0203–0216 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Lizotte, P.L., Savoie, P., Lefsrud, M., Allard, G.: Yield and moisture content of corn stover components in Québec, Canada. Can. Biosyst. Eng. J. 56, 8.1–8.9 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Han Q.: Autohydrolysis pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for bioethanol production. Ph.D. Thesis, North Carolina State University (2014)

  12. Zhu, J., Chandra, M.S., Gleisner, R., Gilles, W.T., Gao, J., Marrs, G., et al.: Case studies on sugar production from underutilized woody biomass using sulfite chemistry. TAPPI J. 14, 577–583 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Gharehkhani, S., Sadeghinezhad, E., Kazi, S.N., Yarmand, H., Badarudin, A., Safaei, M.R., et al.: Basic effects of pulp refining on fiber properties—a review. Carbohydr. Polym. 115, 785–803 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAOSTAT, Ed., ed. Rome, Italy: FAOSTAT Database, 2016

  15. Carter M.: Chetwynd Mechanical Pulp extends maintenance shut down, 2015

  16. Van Soest, P.V., Robertson, J., Lewis, B.: Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and nonstarch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. J. Dairy Sci. 74, 3583–3597 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Park, J., Jones, B., Koo, B., Chen, X., Tucker, M., Yu, J.-H., et al.: Use of mechanical refining to improve the production of low-cost sugars from lignocellulosic biomass. Bioresour. Technol. 199, 59–67 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Miller, G.L.: Use of dinitrosalicylic acid reagent for determination of reducing sugar. Anal. Chem. 31, 426–428 (1959)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Li, Z., Yu, Y., Sun, J., Li, D., Huang, Y., Feng, Y.: Effect of extractives on digestibility of cellulose in corn stover with liquid hot water pretreatment. BioResources 11, 54–70 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Harmsen, P., Huijgen, W., Bermudez, L., Bakker, R.: Literature Review of Physical and Chemical Pretreatment Processes for Lignocellulosic Biomass. Wageningen, Wageningen UR, Food & Biobased Research (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Pandey, A.: Biofuels: Alternative Feedstocks and Conversion Processes. Academic Press, San Diego (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Luukkonen A.: Development of a methodology to optimize low consistency refining of mechanical pulp. Ph.D. Thesis, University of British Columbia (2011)

  23. Li, B., Li, H., Zha, Q., Bandekar, R., Alsaggaf, A., Ni, Y.: Review: effects of wood quality and refining process on TMP pulp and paper quality. BioResources 6, 3569–3584 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Dundar, E., Laperrière, L., Ding, A.F.: Decreasing specific energy of thermomechanical pulps from reduction of raw materials variability. Tappi J. 8, 23–29 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Mooney, C.A., Mansfield, S.D., Beatson, R.P., Saddler, J.N.: The effect of fiber characteristics on hydrolysis and cellulase accessibility to softwood substrates. Enzyme Microb. Technol. 25, 644–650 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Zhu, J.: Physical pretreatment—woody biomass sizereduction—for forest biorefinery. Sustain. Prod. Fuels, Chem. Fibers For. Biomass 1067, 89–107 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Messrs. Alain Marchand and Bryan Brousseau for their excellent assistance. We are also sincerely thankful for the grant support from BiofuelNet. And finally, we are grateful to the sawmills and pulping mills that provided the biomasses.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Ju Chen, Michel Perrier & Jean Paris

  2. INRS-ETE, Université de Québec, Québec City, QC, G1K 9A9, Canada

    Kokou Adjallé

  3. Centre for Research On Lignocellulosic Materials, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada

    Thanh Tung Lai & Simon Barnabé

Authors
  1. Ju Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kokou Adjallé
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thanh Tung Lai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Simon Barnabé
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Michel Perrier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jean Paris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kokou Adjallé.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, J., Adjallé, K., Lai, T.T. et al. Effect of Mechanical Pretreatment for Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Woody Residues, Corn Stover and Alfalfa. Waste Biomass Valor 11, 5847–5856 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00856-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-019-00856-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation