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Influence of process variables on the properties of pulp obtained by ethanol pulping of wheat straw

1999; Elsevier BV; Volume: 35; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0032-9592(99)00045-x

1873-3298

L. Jiménez, María José de la Torre López, J.L. Ferrer, J.C. Garcı́a,

Polysaccharides Composition and Applications

The influence of independent variables in the cooking of wheat straw with ethanol-water mixtures (ethanol concentration, cooking time and temperature) on various properties of the pulp (yield and holocellulose, α-cellulose and lignin contents) was studied with a view to determining the best operating conditions to obtain quality pulp (pulp with high holocellulose and α-cellulose contents and a low lignin content). The results were fitted to a second-order polynomial function using a BMDP system package and a 2m central composite design. In this way, equations that reproduce yield and the holocellulose and α-cellulose contents with errors less than 3.5% and lignin content with errors less than 15% were derived. Additional equations were obtained that relate dependent variables to the treatment severity parameter, Ro and reproduce the experimental yields and holocellulose, α-cellulose and lignin contents with errors less than 10, 4, 4 and 15%, respectively. Obtaining pulp with high holocellulose and α-cellulose contents and a low lignin content, entails using a high temperature (190°C) and ethanol concentration (80%) for a long time period (2 h).