Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.52, No.35, 12514-12522, 2013
Ultrasonic Pretreatment of Wheat Straw in Oxidative and Nonoxidative Conditions Aided with Microwave Heating
Ultrasound was shown to enhance pretreatment of lignocellulose for biofuel and biorefinery applications and can augment oxidative processes,. yet few studies have combined ultrasound with an oxidative environment for the pretreatment of lignocellulose. In the present Contribution, pretreatment of a wheat Straw; using a. combination of ultrasound with two oxidative pretreatments, peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, as well as Water and acetic acid was tested. The experimentation was conducted in an ultrasonic-microwave reactor with a comparison to silent pretreatment with microwave heating alone. In : addition,thermal:heating was compared,to microwave heating for the water pretreatment:Ultrasound:produced a higher. purity solid,residue for all chemical Pretreatments: However, ultrasound pretreatment reduced delignification efficacy by up to 50%, attributed to lignin condensation. The chemical, treatments Were affected by sonolysis reactions and altered the recoverability of :carbohydrates..