The Degradation and Repolymerization Analysis on Solvolysis Liquefaction of Corn Stalk.

Weisheng Chen,Dezhi Han,Qinqin Zhang,Xiaoqi Lin,Kaisen Jiang

doi:10.3390/polym12102337

Weisheng Chen, Dezhi Han + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12102337

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Journal: Polymers	Publication Date: Oct 13, 2020
Citations: 14	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Qingdao University of Science and Technology

Abstract

One of the most effective and renewable utilization methods for lignocellulosic feedstocks is the transformation from solid materials to liquid products. In this work, corn stalk (CS) was liquified with polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400) and glycerol as the liquefaction solvents, and sulfuric acid as the catalyst. The liquefaction conditions were optimized with the liquefaction yield of 95.39% at the reaction conditions of 150 °C and 120 min. The properties of CS and liquefaction residues (LRs) were characterized using ATR–FTIR, TG, elemental analysis and SEM. The chemical components of liquefied product (LP) were also characterized by GC–MS. The results indicated that the depolymerization and repolymerization reaction took place simultaneously in the liquefaction process. The depolymerization of CS mainly occurred at the temperature of <150 °C, and the repolymerization of biomass derivatives dominated at a higher temperature of 170 °C by the lignin derivatives repolymerization with cellulose derivatives, hemicellulose derivatives and PEG400 and self-condensation of lignin derivatives. The solvolysis liquefaction of CS could be classified into the mechanism of electrophilic substitution reaction attacked by the hydrogen cation.

Highlights

The abundant and valuable lignocellulosic biomass could be considered as an alternative to supplement or even replace fossil resources for the synthesis of various chemicals
When the liquefaction temperature increased from 130 to 170 ◦ C, the intensity of absorption peak at 1000–1100 cm−1 decreased slightly, and increased obviously, suggesting that these bands of the liquefaction residues (LRs) came from the C–O–C vibration from both corn stalk (CS) and polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400). These results reveal that the depolymerization of CS and the repolymerization of biomass derivatives took place simultaneously in the liquefaction process, especially at the high liquefaction temperature of 170 ◦ C [41]
Corn stalk was successfully liquefied with PEG400 and glycerol as the liquefaction solvents and

Summary

Introduction

The abundant and valuable lignocellulosic biomass could be considered as an alternative to supplement or even replace fossil resources for the synthesis of various chemicals. Lignocellulosic biomass consists of three major components (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) with plenty of functional groups, such as hydroxyl and phenolic hydroxyl, methoxyl and carboxyl, etc. Due to the potential advantages of improving the functionality of the derived biopolymers and benefiting the economic and environmental aspects, the lignocellulosic biomass could be used as raw material for producing the biomass-based chemicals [2,3]. The lignocellulosic biomass can be physically, thermochemically or biologically transformed into intermediate chemicals. Biomass gasification for power generation has been industrially applied, the treatment and recycling of wastewater for preventing secondary pollution still need to be further optimized. The biomass can be turned into carbon fiber, solid acid catalysts and activated carbon, etc. [4,5]

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