Delignification Kinetics of Corn Stover with Aqueous Ammonia Soaking Pretreatment

• Main Authors: Jinnan Gao, Xu Yang, Jingjing Wan, Yuyuan He, Chun Chang, Xiaojian Ma, Jing Bai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: North Carolina State University 2016-01-01
• Series: BioResources
• Subjects: Delignification; Lignin; Corn stover; Kinetics; Soaking aqueous ammonia pretreatment
• Online Access: http://ojs.cnr.ncsu.edu/index.php/BioRes/article/view/BioRes_11_1_2403_Gao_Delignification_Kinetics_Corn_Stover_Ammonia

Soaking aqueous ammonia (SAA) pretreatment of corn stover was carried out at three temperatures (30, 50, and 70 ºC) and three concentrations of ammonia solution (5, 15, and 25 wt.%). The delignification kinetic model, based on three first-order reactions, was applied to describe the kinetic behavior of lignin removal from corn stover during SAA pretreatment. The first, second, and third terms were based on the initial, bulk, and residual phases of delignification, respectively. The results showed that the model fitted well with the data obtained from the experiments. The activation energies for the delignification reactions were estimated as 61.05 and 59.46 kJ/mol in the bulk and residual phases, respectively. Delignification selectivity increased with increasing reaction temperature.