Simultaneous production of α-cellulose and furfural from bagasse by steam explosion pretreatment

Abstract

Sugar cane bagasse was pretreated by steam explosion for the simultaneous production of furfural and α-cellulose pulp. The components of bagasse were fractionated after steam explosion. The details of the process are as follows. Bagasse was soaked in water for one night and steamed at temperatures varying between 206 and 223 C for 4 minutes. The steam exploded pulp was strained and washed with hot water to yield a liquor rich in hemicellulose-derived mono- and oligosaccharides. The remaining pulp was delignified by alkali for 120 minutes at 170C using, separately, NaOH load of 15, 20 and 25% of weight of the pulp. The delignified pulp was further bleached twice with 4% H2O2 charge of weight of the pulp to produce high α-cellulose pulp. The water liquor was evaporated and further hydrolysed and dehydrated with diluted H2SO4 in a stainless steel reactor to produce furfural. The result shows that the optimal pretreatment of steam explosion for 4 min at 218C leads to the yield of α-cellulose pulp at 193-201 g∙kg-1 of the original bagasse, and that furfural can be produced from xylose present in the liquor with a maximum conversion factor of 0.16.

Keywords

• steam explosion
• sugar cane bagasse
• furfural
• α-cellulose pulp
• delignification