FOREST BIOREFINERY FOR FUEL AND FIBER

摘要

Biomass was historically the primary source for human food, energy, and material needs. With technical advancements we have learned to utilize non-renewable fossil fuel resources to increase our standard of living.However, as these resources become depleted we will need to look to both conservation as well as new means to utilize biomass to meet our food, energy and material needs. Lignocellulosic biomass is an obvious feedstock for process development as it is the most abundant organic resource, with an annual global production of approximately 170 billion metric tons. Pulp mills are poised to become early adopters of producing these advanced biofuels as they have the expertise to aggregate and process lignocellulosic biomass. One scenario envisioned is for the pulp mills to extract hemicellulose sugars prior to pulping to create fuels. This approach has merit as the majority of the hemicellulose is fractionated during pulping and incorporated into the black liquor stream. This paper looks at balancing the amount of hemicellulose extraction that can be accomplished through mild acid hydrolysis on a hardwood Populus sample without degrading pulp properties after Soda Anthraquinone or Kraft pulping. The results indicate that even mild hemicellulose extraction prior to pulping significantly alters the pulp quality, with results generally indicating hemicellulose extraction creating lower refined strengths, which may result in lower economic returns for products that require high strength properties.