Abstract
Abstract Background Biofuels produced from sugarcane bagasse (SB) have shown promising results as a suitable alternative of gasoline. Biofuels provide unique, strategic, environmental and socio-economic benefits. However, production of biofuels from SB has negative impact on environment due to the use of harsh chemicals during pretreatment. Consecutive sulfuric acid-sodium hydroxide pretreatment of SB is an effective process which eventually ameliorates the accessibility of cellulase towards cellulose for the sugars production. Alkaline hydrolysate of SB is black liquor containing high amount of dissolved lignin. Results This work evaluates the environmental impact of residues generated during the consecutive acid-base pretreatment of SB. Advanced oxidative process (AOP) was used based on photo-Fenton reaction mechanism (Fenton Reagent/UV). Experiments were performed in batch mode following factorial design L9 (Taguchi orthogonal array design of experiments), considering the three operation variables: temperature (°C), pH, Fenton Reagent (Fe2+/H2O2) + ultraviolet. Reduction of total phenolics (TP) and total organic carbon (TOC) were responsive variables. Among the tested conditions, experiment 7 (temperature, 35°C; pH, 2.5; Fenton reagent, 144 ml H2O2+153 ml Fe2+; UV, 16W) revealed the maximum reduction in TP (98.65%) and TOC (95.73%). Parameters such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), BOD/COD ratio, color intensity and turbidity also showed a significant change in AOP mediated lignin solution than the native alkaline hydrolysate. Conclusion AOP based on Fenton Reagent/UV reaction mechanism showed efficient removal of TP and TOC from sugarcane bagasse alkaline hydrolysate (lignin solution). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on statistical optimization of the removal of TP and TOC from sugarcane bagasse alkaline hydrolysate employing Fenton reagent mediated AOP process.
Highlights
Biofuels produced from sugarcane bagasse (SB) have shown promising results as a suitable alternative of gasoline
Characteristics of lignin residue The lignin residue was characterized based on the physicochemical parameters, such as pH, color, total organic carbon (TOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), turbidity, COD/BOD ratio and total phenolics (TP) amount
The COD/BOD ratio in native lignin solution was 0.03 lower than the standard value (0.2) revealing that the substances present in lignin solution residues are resistant to biological oxidation [31]
Summary
Biofuels produced from sugarcane bagasse (SB) have shown promising results as a suitable alternative of gasoline. Deployment of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative of gasoline may provide unique environmental, economic and strategic benefits over to fossil fuels [1,2]. Sugarcane bagasse (SB) is the preferred choice of raw material for ethanol production in countries like Brazil, India and China where it is generated in plentiful amount every year [4,5]. SB like any other lignocellulosic material is a complex polymer which is consisted of three major constituents such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Consecutive acid-base pretreatment process has been found successful for the efficient removal of hemicellulose and lignin leaving cellulose for the cellulolytic enzymes action for its conversion into glucose [6,7]
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