Analysis of Organic Compounds in Residual from Wheat Stalk Depolymerized in Supercritical Methanol

Abstract

Liquefaction of biomass is a practical source of clean liquid fuel and possible source of value-added chemicals. But if solid residual formed during liqufaction can’t be properly handled, it will be a new environmental problem. In this study, we use n-hexane and carbon disulfide to extract (under ultrasonic) the biomass residual from wheat stalk depolymerized in supercritical methanol. In the fraction extracted by n-hexane, Oxy-compounds and compounds containing benzene ring are present in high concentration. The fraction extracted by carbon disulfide is separated by column chromatography. The first sub-fraction eluted by n-hexane only detected three compounds, benzenethiol, diphenylmethane and diphenyldisulfide. The second sub-fraction eluted by n-hexane is mainly alkyl-benzenes and alkyl-cyclohexanes. Nine saturated fatty hydrocarbons from C21 to C29 are eluted in the sub-fraction eluted by mixture of n-hexane and benzene.