• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.123-132
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• 2012

Pre-pulping extracts were found to contain a dilute amount of xylo-oligosaccharides and acetic acid as the major components, and many minor components including other organic acids, lignin-derived phenolics, and sugar degradation products. Once separated from the pulp, a secondary hydrolysis step was required to hydrolyze oligomeric hemicellulose sugars into monomeric sugars before fermentation. The following study detailed the extent of hemicellulose recovery by pre-pulping using hot water extraction and characterized the hydrolysis of the extract with respect to comparing acid and enzymatic hydrolysis. The secondaryhydrolysis of hot water extracts made at an H-Factor of 800 was tested for a variety of acid and enzyme loading levels using the sulfuric acid and xylanases. The maximum fermentable sugar yield from acid and enzyme hydrolysis of the extract was 18.7 g/${\ell}$ and 17.7 g/${\ell}$ representing 84.6% and 80.1% of the maximum possible yield, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.561-567
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• 2013

Mixed hardwood chips were pre-pulping extracted with green liquor prior to kraft pulping in order to recover hemicelluloses for use as biofuels. This green liquor solution containing mainly sodium sulfide and sodium carbonate was applied at different alkali charges (expressed as $Na_2O$) of 0, 1, 3, and 5% on dry wood weight. The extractions were performed at $160^{\circ}C$ for residence times ranging from about 1-2 h to determine the effect of extraction severity on composition of the pre-pulping extract. The severity of hemicellulose extraction time and green liquor charge controls the concentration of acetic acid and monosaccharide sugars available for downstream processing, the accumulation of degradation products such as organic acids and furans in the extract. As the alkali charge was increased, the amount of acetate side chains on the hemicelluloses and the dissolved lignin in the extract increased but the carbohydrate and sugars in the extract decreased appreciably. Hot water extraction (0% alkali addition) released the greatest amount of carbohydrates, up to 29.80 g/L measured as component sugars, but resulted in the greatest decrease in pulp yield. Meanwhile, pre-pulping extraction with 3% green liquor increased the pulp yield while greatly reducing the component sugars to 7.08 g/L. Fundamental data obtained in this study will allow selection of optimum hemicellulose extraction conditions for integrating the extraction operation into the Kraft pulping process.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.447-455
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• 2013

Hemicellulose extract obtained by pre-pulping extraction of woodchips, is very diluted acidic in nature. The major component responsible for this weak acidity is acetic acid, present in levels up to 5~10 g/L. Here, we report an exploratory study on the extract upgrading by reactive solvent extraction of acetic acid as well as ASPEN simulation. In this study, liquid-liquid equilibria for the ternary systems (water + acetic acid + ethyl acetate) were measured at the temperature of 298.15 K and 10 (pH = 2.02), 5 (pH = 2.17), and 1 (pH = 2.48) percent of acetic acid samples were used to carry out liquid-liquid extraction studies using ethyl acetate. In a one-stage batch experiment, 96.0% of acetic acid could be extracted for the solvent when the ratio of organic-to-aqueous phases is 4:1. For simulation results, they were used to estimate the interaction parameters between each of the three compounds of the systems studied for the NRTL and UNIQUAC models. The estimated interaction parameters were successfully used to predict the equilibrium compositions by the two models.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.477-493
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• 2016

A single process using hot water (0% green liquor) and green liquor (GL) was investigated for pre-pulping extraction on two types of raw material. The GL was applied at different alkali charges of 0-5% on a dry wood weight basis. The extractions were performed at an H-factor 900 at $180^{\circ}C$. The 0% and 3% GL extraction detected acetic acid (AA) at 10.02 and $9.94g/{\ell}$, extracts derived from hardwood, 2.46 and $3.76g/{\ell}$, extracts derived from softwood, respectively. The single liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) was studied using tri-n-alkylphosphine oxide (TAPO). Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed as an efficient approach for predictive model building and optimization of AA recovery conditions. The extraction of AA was evaluated with a three-level factorial design. Three independent variables, pH (0.5-3.5), temperature ($25-65^{\circ}C$), and residence time (24-48 min) were investigated. Applying the RSM models obtained, the optimal conditions selected of extracts derived from hard- and softwood with a 3% GL were approximately pH 1.4, $26.6^{\circ}C$, 43.8 min and approximately pH 0.7, $25.2^{\circ}C$, 24.6 min, respectively. The predicted and experimental values of AA recovery yield were similar whilst sugar retention was 100%.