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1 s2.0 S096085241201574X Main PDF
1 s2.0 S096085241201574X Main PDF
Zuolin Zhu
a,b,
, Meg M. Sun
b
, Chungao Su
a
, Hongmei Zhao
a
, Xuemei Ma
a
, Zuodong Zhu
a
,
Xianlei Shi
a
, Kangfu Gu
b
a
China Fuel (Huaibei) Bioenergy Technology Development Co., Ltd., Anhui 235000, China
b
Sun Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 13718 Sorbonne Ct., San Diego, CA 92128, USA
h i g h l i g h t s
" Lignocelluloses are hydrolyzed into
small organic molecules with good
selectivity.
" Cellulose and hemicellulose into
small organic acids, lignin into small
molecular aromatics.
" Neither gasication nor black tar
formation was observed.
" Most of sulphur-chemicals in black
liquor are oxidized into sulphates.
" Oxygen-transfer between
carbohydrates and lignin may be the
possible reaction mechanism.
g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 2 August 2012
Received in revised form 17 October 2012
Accepted 18 October 2012
Available online 26 October 2012
Keywords:
Lignin hydrolysis
Black liquor
Lignocellulose
Lactic acid
High octane number gasoline
a b s t r a c t
Black liquor from the kraft process facilitates quantitative biomass hydrolysis converting cellulose and
hemicellulose into organic acids such as lactic acid (50%), and lignin into small molecular aromatics,
without gasication and black tar formation. Oxygen transfer between lignin and carbohydrates may
be the mechanism. With this method, three tons of lignocellulosic biomass can potentially produce up
to one ton of lactic acid, and one ton of small molecular aromatics. This novel usage of black liquor is
environmentally viable because it is accompanied by signicant emission reduction of particulates, sulfur
and nitrogen oxides, most organic sulfur compounds and sultes of black liquor were converted into
sulfates.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
On Earth Day 2012, human beings began believing that we are
approaching the Turning Point in the Fight against Global Warm-
ing. In July of 2012, Scientists conrmed that extreme weather
events are caused by man-made climate change (Peterson et al.,
2012). The survival of human beings depends on how soon we
can replace petroleum oil with regenerable resources such as bio-
mass. Fossil oil is considered as the blood of contemporary human
society, because it is the raw material of two necessities.
1. Transportation liquid fuels.
2. Fundamental organic chemicals.
In light of increased demands for energy, coupled with rapid
depletion of fossil oil resources, extensive research has been car-
ried out to identify fossil fuel alternative, especially for renewable
resources that have the following criteria: availability, economics,
acceptability, environmental and emissions, national security,
technology, and versatility. Unfortunately, all thermo-chemical
methods and bio-chemical methods researched by scientists can-
0960-8524/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.10.072