The process of biofuels production from lignocellulosic substances such as wood, straw, shrub and wastes from paper, wood and food industry demands the application of pretreatment as the first stage of processing, which increases the overall yield of biofuels obtainment.
The steam explosion is one of the pretreatment methods. It consists in the subjection of the material with superheated water in raised pressure. It causes “rinsing” of some of the organic substances contained in the raw material, which are soluble in water and other polar solvents.
Wood material from two poplar species (Populus trichocarpa and japanese) was subjected to the steam explosion at temperatures of 160, 175 and 190°C. Then it was extracted with ethanol-chloroform mixture. The changes of extracted with this mixture substances content were observed using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). This method is a good tool to determine the influence of pretreatment and other stages of processing on extractives chemical composition.
Keywords: Steam explosion, poplar wood, extractives, bioethanol, pretreatment
Authors
Szadkowski J.
Department of Wood Science and Wood Protection, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warszawa
Lewandowska A.
Szadkowska D.
Zielenkiewicz T.
Department of Wood Science and Wood Protection, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warszawa
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