• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.18-25
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• 1990

As polysaccharides in lignocellulosic materials are encrusted with aromatic lignin molecules and have high crystallinity, these require pretreatment to improve their digestability by cellulolytic enzymes. Though a number of pretreatment methods have been proposed, the steam explosion process is evaluated as a promising method. This study was performed to investigate the effect of delignification treatment by alkali, methanol and the others on the enzymatic hydrolysis. Delignification treatment resulted in great increase rate in enzymatic hydrolysis. Concerning to the effect of delignication reagents on the enzymatic hydrolysis, methanol treatment was more effective than alkali in the case of oak wood. In pine wood, the delignification did not showed any significant enhancement of hydrolysis rate. Complete delignification by Alkali-Oxygen. Alkali treatment showed high saccharification rate of 99.5%.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.37-43
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• 2016

Various mechanical and chemical pretreatment methods including alkali treatment, pre-beating, enzyme treatment and oxidation treatment have been used to reduce the production energy of the microfibrillated cellulose (MFC). Among them, alkali swelling can be helpful to reduce the energy consumption because the internal bonding between fibrils could be weakened. In this study, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was used as a cosolvent to improve alkali pretreatment efficiency and the effects of NaOH concentration during NaOH-DMSO swelling on changes in fiber characteristics of softwood bleached kraft pulp (SwBKP) were elucidated. For alkali treatment in H2O-DMSO solvents, fiber length were decreased with increasing NaOH concentration while fiber width, curl and WRV were increased. WRV began to increase at 8% NaOH solution. In addition, above 8% concentration of NaOH, crystalline structure of pulp fibers converted from cellulose II to cellulose III by DMSO cosolvent. Comparing the previous results with this study, it was shown that DMSO cosolvent could promote swelling of pulp fibers and thus reduce NaOH concentration for the maximum swelling of fibers.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.255-264
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• 2009

To evaluate the effects of chemical pretreatments of lignocellulosic biomass on enzymatic hydrolysis process, Populus euramericana was pretreated for 1 hr with 1% sulfuric acid ($H_2SO_4$) at $150^{\circ}C$ and 1% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at $160^{\circ}C$, respectively. Before the enzymatic hydrolysis, each pretreated sample was subjected to drying process and thus finally divided into four subgroups; dried or non-dried acid pretreated samples and dried or non-dried alkali pretreated samples and chemical and physical properties of them were analyzed. Biomass degradation by acid pretreatment was determined to 6% higher compared to alkali pretreatment. By the action of acid ca. 24.5% of biomass was dissolved into solution, while alkali degraded ca. 18.6% of biomass. However, reverse results were observed in delignification rates, in which alkali pretreatment released 2% more lignin fragment from biomass to the solution than acid pretreatment. Unexpectedly, samples after both pretreatments were determined to somewhat higher crystallinity than untreated samples. This result may be explained by selective disrupture of amorphous region in cellulose during pretreatments, thus the cellulose crystallinity seems to be accumulated in the pretreated samples. SEM images revealed that pretreated samples showed relative rough and partly cracked surfaces due to the decomposition of components, but the image of acid pretreated samples which were dried was similar to that of the control. In pore size distribution, dried acid pretreated samples were similar to the control, while that in alkali pretreated samples was gradually increased as pore diameter increased. The pore volume which increased by acid pretreatment rapidly decreased by drying process. Alkali pretreatment was much more effective on enzymatic digestibility than acid pretreatment. The sample after alkali pretreatment was enzymatically hydrolyzed up to 45.8%, while only 26.9% of acid pretreated sample was digested at the same condition. The high digestibility of the sample was also influenced to the yields of monomeric sugars during enzymatic hydrolysis. In addition, drying process of pretreated samples affected detrimentally not only to digestibility but also to the yields of monomeric sugars.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2023

Densification is an effective method for improving the physical and mechanical properties of low-density wood. However, the set-recovery of dimensions was found to be the problem of densified wood due to low fixation during the densification process. Alkali pretreatment before densification is thought to be a modification process to improve the dimensional stability of densified wood. In this research, the wood samples used were boiled in a 1.25 N sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution at different times, followed by densification for 5 h at 100℃. The alkali pretreatment for 1, 3, and 5 h of boiling increased the dimensional stability of densified woods and anti-swelling efficiency values were 8.52%, 63.24%, and 48.94%, respectively. The boiling of wood in NaOH solution decreased the holocellulose content, as well as lignin to a lesser degree, and a lower crystallinity index was observed. The lower hydroxyl groups and a higher proportion of lignin in treated samples seem to have contributed to the high dimensional stability detected.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.287-298
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• 2021

Torch ginger (Etlingera elatior Jack) is a potential source of lignocellulose material for various derivative products. This study aims to determine the chemical components, ratio of syringyl to guaiacyl units (S/G) in lignin, and crystallinity of the biomass of torch ginger. The effects of soda pulping on the chemical characteristics of torch ginger pulp were also studied. Pulping of the chips was conducted with active alkali of 15%, 20%, and 25% and a Liquor-to-Wood (L/W) ratio of 4:1, 5:1, and 6:1. The impregnation and pulping times at maximum temperature (170℃) were 120 and 90 min, respectively. To assess the effect of treatments on the properties of pulping, a two-factorial experimental design was applied. Results showed that the content of α-cellulose and hemicellulose in the torch ginger was 48.48% and 31.50%, respectively, with an S/G ratio of 0.70 in lignin. Soda pulping changed the crystalline structure of the biomass from triclinic to monoclinic. Active alkali, L/W ratio, and interactions considerably influenced the observed responses. The degree of delignification increased with an increase in the loading of active alkali, which lead to a decrease in the kappa number of the pulp. An active alkali content of 25% and an L/W ratio of 6:1 resulted in the highest delignification selectivity with a kappa number of 2.78 and a yield of 24%. Given its cellulose content and ease of pulping, torch ginger can be a potential raw material for derivative products that require delignification as pretreatment. However, the increase in cellulose crystallinity should be considered when converting torch ginger to bioethanol.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.1 s.129
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• pp.77-86
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• 2005

In order to investigate the ability of log wood for oak mushroom production as a source of an alternative energy, both chemical and physical characteristics of log wood were investigated according to the cultivation periods. Also, both chemical and physical characteristics of material that treated by steam explosion were investigated to confirm the pretreatment effect by remaining enzyme as a control. The contents of ash, water-, alkali- and organic soluble extracts have been increased after the inoculation. It appeard that holocellulose contents substantially decreased and the contents of lignin as another main component of wood remained constant after the inoculation. However this result implied that indeed, a sufficient amount of lignin has been degraded paritially by enzymes of oak mushroom Lentinus edodes if we consider that the amount of holocelulose was substantially reduced. It also indicated that the degree of degradation gradually progressed but crystallinity decreased after the inoculation. The contents of water-, alkali- and organic soluble extracts have been increased by steam explosion. Holocellulose contents increased within narrow limits and lignin contents remained constant. However the contents of holocellulose and lignin have been decreased by steam explosion, considering that the amount of other extractives was relatively increased. The degree of crystallinity and lignin contents reduction by steam explosion was almost similar to the result obtained by increasing cultivation periods. According to the results, log woods for mushroom production have a potential as material for developing alternative energy.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.79-88
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• 2008

The production of bioethanol, which is one of the alternative fuel, cause the various problem such as agflation in human society. As a substitute for the feedstock, lignocellulosic biomass have a big potential. However, bioethanol production with cellulosic material is not commercialized due to high cost. Thermochemical pretreatment to improve the rate of enzyme hydrolysis and increase the recovery of fermentable sugar, is required in order to achieve the cost down in bioethanol production. In this study, various problems and technologies for pretreatment is introduced. Acid hydrolysis, alkali hydrolysis, steam explosion, organosolv process, ammonia explosion, and wet oxidation pretreatment remove lignin and hemicellulose, and reduce cellulose crystallinity. Optimization of pretreatment process on various sources of lignocellulosic biomass such as softwood, hardwood, and straw should be performed.

• Journal of Korea Foresty Energy
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.20-27
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• 2001

An effective method for production of glucose was developed using enzymatic hydrolysis of Suwon poplar by the cellulase. Enzymatic hydrolysis of wood is the reaction to produce glucose from wood using enzyme which derives from microorganism. Glucose can be transferred easily to ethanol by fermentation. Ethanol is the starting material for producing acetone, butanol, citric acid and lactic acid. The mechanism of the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose are reasonably explained in terms of the sequential action of three different types of enzymes, endo-cellulase, ex-cellulase, and $\beta$ -glucosidase. The goal of this work was to investigate the cellulose hydrolysis pretreated polar with various concentration NaOH, the crystallinity of cellulose, lignin contents and the degree of hydrolysis.