Radiation and postradiation distillation of biopolymers: Lignin and chitin

Abstract

Lignin and chitin were decomposed in the regimes of postradiation dry distillation and distillation under conditions of radiation heating by accelerated electrons. The distilled off condensates consisted of two phases: brown viscous tar and lighter aqueous organic solution. The preliminary irradiation of lignin did not change the yield of distilled off tar, but it increased the fraction of alkoxyphenols in this tar. In the postradiation distillation of chitin, the yield of tar decreased with the dose. The effective distillation of biopolymers under radiation heating conditions was observed at dose rates higher than ∼1 kGy/s. The condensate distilled off at a dose rate of 1.5–2.5 kGy/s differed from the product of standard dry distillation in a higher yield of liquid organic products.