Lignin Based Activated Carbon Using HPO Activation.

Activated carbon (AC) with a very high surface area of over 2000 m/g was produced from low sulfur acid hydrotropic lignin (AHL) from poplar wood using HPO at a moderate temperature of 450 °C (AHL-AC6). ACs with similar surface areas were also obtained under the same activation condition from commercial hardwood alkali lignin and lignosulfonate. Initial evaluation of AC performance was carried out using nitrogen adsorption-desorption and dye adsorption.

Ecosystem Services, Physiology, and Biofuels Recalcitrance of Poplars Grown for Landfill Phytoremediation.

Long-term poplar phytoremediation data are lacking, especially for ecosystem services throughout rotations. We tested for rotation-age differences in biomass productivity and carbon storage of clones Bartr. ex Marsh × L.

Pilot-Scale Production of Cellulosic Nanowhiskers With Similar Morphology to Cellulose Nanocrystals.

This study describes a class of cellulosic nanomaterials, cellulosic nanowhiskers (CNWs), and demonstrates scaled-up production with acid recovery using less expensive equipment made of common stainless steel rather than glass-lined steel. CNWs produced using concentrated maleic acid (MA) hydrolysis followed by mechanical fibrillation have morphology similar to MA-produced cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and sulfuric-acid-produced CNCs (S-CNCs) but differ in crystallinity. Applications of CNWs as a substitute for CNCs for which morphology and surface charge, rather than crystallinity, are the pertinent characteristics are presented.

Using sulfite chemistry for robust bioconversion of Douglas-fir forest residue to bioethanol at high titer and lignosulfonate: a pilot-scale evaluation.

This study demonstrated at the pilot-scale (50 kg) use of Douglas-fir forest harvest residue, an underutilized forest biomass, for the production of high titer and high yield bioethanol using sulfite chemistry without solid-liquor separation and detoxification. Sulfite Pretreatment to Overcome the Recalcitrance of Lignocelluloses (SPORL) was directly applied to the ground forest harvest residue with no further mechanical size reduction, at a low temperature of 145°C and calcium bisulfite or total SO2 loadings of only 6.5 or 6.

High titer ethanol production from SPORL-pretreated lodgepole pine by simultaneous enzymatic saccharification and combined fermentation.

Lodgepole wood chips were pretreated by sulfite pretreatment to overcome recalcitrance of lignocelluloses (SPORL) at 25% solids loading and 180 °C for 20 min with sulfuric acid and sodium bisulfite charges of 2.2 and 8 wt/wt% on an oven-dry wood basis, respectively. The pretreated wood chips were disk-milled with pretreatment spent liquor and water, and the solid fraction was separated from the liquor stream.