Fractionation of plant-cuticle-based bio-oils by microwave-assisted methanolysis combined with hydrothermal pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis

Shuntaro Tsubaki; Kiriyo Oono; Ayumu Onda

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01887

Fractionation of plant-cuticle-based bio-oils by microwave-assisted methanolysis combined with hydrothermal pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis

Heliyon. 2019 Jun 11;5(6):e01887. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01887. eCollection 2019 Jun.

Authors

Shuntaro Tsubaki¹, Kiriyo Oono², Ayumu Onda²

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama 2-12-1 E4-3, Meguro, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan.
² Research Laboratory of Hydrothermal Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Kochi University, Akebono-cho 2-5-1, Kochi, 780-8520, Japan.

Abstract

Microwave-assisted methanolysis was performed to fractionate a mixture of fatty acid methyl-esters from the cuticles of various wild plants and agricultural wastes. A combination of hydrothermal pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis effectively removed hemicellulose and cellulose to afford plant cuticles concentrated in residual materials. The subsequent methanolysis treatment afforded bio-oil from plant cuticles in ∼10% yield with a maximum higher heating value (HHV) of 32 MJ kg^-1 from bagasse. The proposed cascading treatments allow the total use of herbaceous soft biomass by utilizing hemicellulose and cellulose fractions as well as plant cuticles to produce bio-oils with high HHVs.

Keywords: Agriculture; Biotechnology; Fractionation of cutin; Methanolysis; Microwaves; Plant cuticles; Pretreatment.