• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.335-341
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• 2013

Ammonia circulation reactor (ACR) was devised for the effective pretreatment of corn stover. This method is designed to circulate aqueous ammonia continuously so that it can reduce the chemical and water consumption during pretreatment. In this study, ammonia pretreatment with various reaction conditions such as reaction time (4~12 hour), temperature ($60{\sim}80^{\circ}C$), and solid:liquid ratio (1:3~1:8) was tested. Chemical compositions including solid remaining after reaction, lignin and carbohydrates were analyzed and enzymatic digestibility was also measured. It was observed that as reaction conditions become more severe, lignin removal was significantly affected, which was in the range of 47.6~70.6%. On the other hands, glucan and xylan losses were not substantial as compared to that of lignin. At all tested conditions, the glucan loss was not changed substantially, which was between 4.7% and 15.2%, while the xylan loss varied, which was between 7.4% and 25.8%. With (15 FPU-GC220+30 CBU)/g-glucan of enzyme loading, corn stover treated using ammonia circulation reactor for 8~12 hours resulted in 90.1~94.5% of 72-h glucan digestibility, which was higher than 92.7% of $Avicel^{(R)}$-101. In addition, initial hydrolysis rate (at 24 hour) of this treated corn stover was 73.0~79.4%, which was shown to be much faster than 69.5% of $Avicel^{(R)}$-101. As reaction time increased, more lignin removal and it was assumed that the enhanced enzymatic digestibility of treated biomass was attributed to the lignin removal.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.682-689
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• 2015

A two-step process was investigated for pretreatment and fractionation of rice straw. The two-step fractionation process involves first, soaking rice straw in aqueous ammonia (SAA) in a batch reactor to recover lignin-rich hydrolysate. This is followed by a second-step treatment in a fixed-bed flow-through column reactor to recover xylo-oligomer-rich hydrolysate. The remaining glucan-rich solid cake is then subjected to an enzymatic process. In the first variant, SAA treatment in the first step dissolves lignin at moderate temperature (60 and $80^{\circ}C$), while in the second step, hot-water treatment is used for xylan removal at higher temperatures ($150{\sim}210^{\circ}C$). Under optimal conditions ($190^{\circ}C$ reaction temperature, 30 min reaction time, 5.0 ml/min flow rate, and 2.3 MPa reaction pressure), the SAA-hot-water fractionation removed 79.2% of the lignin and 63.4% of the xylan. In the second variant, SAA was followed by treatment with dilute sulfuric acid. With this process, optimal treatment conditions for effective fractionation of xylo-oligomer were found to be $80^{\circ}C$, 12 h reaction time, solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:12 in the first step; and 5.0 ml $H_2SO_4/min$, $170^{\circ}C$, and 2.3 MPa in the second step. After this two-step fractionation process, 85.4% lignin removal and 78.9% xylan removal (26.8% xylan recovery) were achieved. Use of the optimized second variant of the two-step fractionation process (SAA and $H_2SO_4$) resulted in enhanced enzymatic digestibility of the treated solid (99% glucan digestibility) with 15 FPU (filter paper unit) of CTec2 (cellulase)/g-glucan of enzyme loading, which was higher than 92% in the two-step fractionation process (SAA and hot-water).

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.704-711
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• 2010

Lignocellulose ($2^{nd}$ generation) is difficult to hydrolyze due to the presence of lignin and the technology developed for cellulose fermentation to ethanol is not yet economically viable. However, recent advances in the extremely new field of biotechnology for the ethanol production are making it possible to use of agriculture residuals and nonedible crops biomass, e.q., rice straw and miscanthus sinensis, because of their several superior aspects as agriculture residual and nonedible crops biomass; low lignin, high contents of carbohydrates. In this article, as the basic study of AP(Ammonia Percolation), the properties and the optium conditions of process were established, and then the overall efficiency of AP was investigated. The important independent variables for AP process were selected as ammonia concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time. The percolation condition for maximizing the content of cellulose, the enzymatic digestibility, and the lignin removal was optimized using RSM(Response Surface Methodology). The determined optimum condition is ammonia concentration; 11.27%, reaction temperature; $157.75^{\circ}C$, and reaction time; 10.01 min. The satisfying results were obtained under this optimized condition, that is, the results are as follows: cellulose content(relative); 39.98%, lignin content(relative); 8.01%, and enzymatic digestibility; 85.89%.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.48-53
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• 2013

Pretreatment of wastepaper using aqueous glycerol was investigated to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis. The effects of four factors (solid/liquid ratio, glycerol concentration, acid concentration, and reaction time) on the dissolution yield, the removal of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, and the enzymatic digestibility were examined at $150^{\circ}C$. The 1/8 of solid/liquid was determined to perform the reaction uniformly, and the 93% of glycerol concentration was found to be a minimum concentration to conduct the reaction under atmospheric pressure. Also, it was found that the acid concentration and reaction time were strongly related to the dissolution yield and the removal of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, but moderately to the enzymatic digestibility. At an optimum condition of $150^{\circ}C$, 1 h and 1% acid concentration, 56% and 49% of hemicellulose and lignin, respectively, were removed, while only 4% of cellulose was removed. The enzymatic digestibility at this condition was 86%, meaning that 83% of the glucan present in the initial substrate was converted to glucose. Compared to glycerol with ethylene glycol as a pretreatment solvent, glycerol is much cheaper than ethylene glycol, but ethylene glycol is superior to glycerol in delignification.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.81-85
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• 1990

Lignin was extracted from the rice straw by using the solvent mixture of buthyl alcohol and distilled water. And the experiment of vanillin production from extracted lignin was performed with the oxidation catalysts; CuO, Cu(OH)2 and CuSO4.5H2O. The optimum conditions of lignin extraction are the reaction temperature 12$0^{\circ}C$ and the mixture of 250mL buthyloloohol, 250mL, distilled water and 25g rice straw in the presence of 2.5g p-toluenesulfonic acid. The yield of vanillin from extracted lignin increased linearly with the increase of reaction temperature. And it increased with the order of Cu(OH)<$_2$ CuO$_4\cdot \;5H_2$Oas oxidation catalysts. The maximum yield of vanillin was 9% in the presence of 2.5%(w/v) CuSO$_4\cdot \;5H_2$O under the following conditions: temperature, 18$0^{\circ}C$; pressure, 13atm; pH 4.0 and reaction time, two hours.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.7-11
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• 2007

Kraft pulping of Trema orientalis (Nalita) was studied in order to find kinetic data for delignification. Pulping runs were carried out in the temperature range of $160-180\;^{\circ}C$ under constant and well-defined conditions. The delignification was found to be first order with respect to residual lignin and was chemically controlled. The rate of delignification reaction was increased 1.11-1.23 for $10\;^{\circ}C$ temperature increase in the range of $160-180\;^{\circ}C$ range. A mean value of 93% of lignin was removed at the transition between bulk and residual delignification. The influence of cooking temperature on the rate constant was expressed by an Arrhenius-type equation. The obtained activation energy of the delignification reaction was 6,164 cal/mol. The transition point between bulk and residual phase was shifted to lower lignin and carbohydrate yield with the increase of temperature.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.190-197
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• 2021

Kraft lignin is a by-product of the pulp and paper industry, obtained as a black liquor after the extraction of cellulose from wood through the Kraft pulping process. Right now, kraft lignin is utilized as a low-grade boiler fuel to provide heat and power but can be converted into high-calorific biofuels or high-value chemicals once the efficient catalytic depolymerization process is developed. In this work, the multi-functional catalyst of Ru-Mg-Al-oxide, which contains hydrogenation metals, acid, and base sites for the effective depolymerization of kraft lignin are prepared, and its lignin depolymerization efficiency is evaluated. In order to understand the role of different active sites in the lignin depolymerization, the three different catalysts of MgO, Mg-Al-oxide, and Ru-Mg-Al-oxide were synthesized, and their lignin depolymerization activity was compared in terms of the yield and the average molecular weight of bio-oil, as well as the yield of phenolic monomers contained in the bio-oil. Among the catalysts tested, the Ru-Mg-Al-oxide catalyst exhibited the highest yield of bio-oil and phenolic monomers due to the synergy between active sites. Furthermore, in order to maximize the extent of lignin depolymerization over the Ru-Mg-Al-oxide, the effects of reaction conditions (i.e., temperature, time, and catalyst loading amount) on the lignin depolymerization were investigated. Overall, the highest bio-oil yield of 72% and the 3.5 times higher yield of phenolic monomers than that without a catalyst were successfully achieved at 350 ℃ and 10% catalyst loading after 4 h reaction time.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.15-24
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• 2004

The present work was undertaken to investigate the anatomical and chemical characteristics of transgenic poplar down-regulated with antisense OMT gene. Also the distribution of lignin in transgenic poplar trees was investigated at cellular level. No visible abnormal phenotype was observed in the fibers and vessel elements of transgenic poplar. Any marked differences in the staining intensities of Wiesner and Mäule color reaction were not identified in the transgenic poplar. TEM micrographs did not show any staining intensities in the cell walls stained with KMnO₄. Interestingly, the UV spectroscopy of semi-thin sections exhibited a distinct decrease of lignin absorption at 280 nm in the vessel walls, indicating transgenic poplar wood with lower amount of guaiacyl lignin in vessel elements. Chemical composition of antisense OMT poplar was almost identical to that of wild-type poplar. Klason lignin content of transgenic poplar did not show any significant difference from that of the controls. The solid state NMR spectra revealed the transgenic poplar with only slightly more syringyl lignin than the control. The present work showed that antisense OMT gene constructed in the poplar was not enough to reduce the overall content of Klason lignin, and suggested that the expression of transformation was confined to vessel walls.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.321-331
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• 2020

Background: The patatin-related phospholipase AIII family (pPLAIIIs) genes alter cell elongation and cell wall composition in Arabidopsis and rice plant, suggesting diverse commercial purposes of the economically important medicinal ginseng plant. Herein, we show the functional characterization of a ginseng pPLAIII gene for the first time and discuss its potential applications. Methods: pPLAIIIs were identified from ginseng expressed sequence tag clones and further confirmed by search against ginseng database and polymerase chain reaction. A clone showing the highest homology with pPLAIIIβ was shown to be overexpressed in Arabidopsis using Agrobacterium. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to analyze ginseng pPLAIIIβ expression. Phenotypes were observed using a low-vacuum scanning electron microscope. Lignin was stained using phloroglucinol and quantified using acetyl bromide. Results: The PgpPLAIIIβ transcripts were observed in all organs of 2-year-old ginseng. Overexpression of ginseng pPLAIIIβ (PgpPLAIIIβ-OE) in Arabidopsis resulted in small and stunted plants. It shortened the trichomes and decreased trichome number, indicating defects in cell polarity. Furthermore, OE lines exhibited enlarged seeds with less number per silique. The YUCCA9 gene was downregulated in the OE lines, which is reported to be associated with lignification. Accordingly, lignin was stained less in the OE lines, and the expression of two transcription factors related to lignin biosynthesis was also decreased significantly. Conclusion: Overexpression of pPLAIIIβ retarded cell elongation in all the tested organs except seeds, which were longer and thicker than those of the controls. Shorter root length is related to auxinresponsive genes, and its stunted phenotype showed decreased lignin content.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.86-94
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• 2011

Pyrolytic lignin was obtained from biooil produced with yellow poplar wood. Fast pyrolysis was performed under various temperature ranges and residence times using fluidized bed type reactor. Several analytical methods were adopted to characterize the structure of pyrolytic lignin as well as the effect of pyrolysis temperature and residence time on the modification of the lignin. The yield of pyrolytic lignin increased as increasing pyrolysis temperature and decreasing residence time of pyrolysis products. The molecular weight of pyrolytic lignin determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) was approximately 1,200 mol/g, which was approximately a tenth of milled wood lignin (MWL) purified from the same woody biomass. Based on analytical data, demethoxylation and side chain cleavage reaction were dominantly occurred during fast pyrolysis.