Acidic seawater improved 5-hydroxymethylfurfural yield from sugarcane bagasse under microwave hydrothermal liquefaction

Yuchao Shao; Daniel C W Tsang; Dongsheng Shen; Ying Zhou; Zhiyuan Jin; Dan Zhou; Wenjing Lu; Yuyang Long

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.109340

Acidic seawater improved 5-hydroxymethylfurfural yield from sugarcane bagasse under microwave hydrothermal liquefaction

Environ Res. 2020 May:184:109340. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109340. Epub 2020 Mar 6.

Authors

Yuchao Shao¹, Daniel C W Tsang², Dongsheng Shen¹, Ying Zhou¹, Zhiyuan Jin¹, Dan Zhou¹, Wenjing Lu³, Yuyang Long⁴

Affiliations

¹ Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Recycling, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310012, China.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
³ School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
⁴ Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Recycling, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310012, China. Electronic address: longyy@zjgsu.edu.cn.

PMID: 32209494
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109340

Abstract

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) as value-added platform chemical can be derived from biomass. This study used microwave hydrothermal liquefaction (MHTL) to obtain HMF from sugarcane bagasse in acidic seawater conditions. The key processing parameters including temperature, reaction time, and liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S) were evaluated and optimized. The highest HMF yield of 8.1 wt% was obtained at 149 °C with a reaction time of 4 min and a L/S value of 12:1, respectively. This yield is considerable and even higher than the yield derived from sugarcane molasses under similar microwave conditions in the absence of seawater. Hence, acidic seawater was found to promote the hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse to give HMF precursor (i.e. fructose and glucose), while simultaneously inhibiting the conversion of HMF to levulinic acid under MHTL conditions, possibly explaining the high HMF yield. This method presents a new and sustainable means of transforming waste biomass to valuable substances using seawater or brine wastewater.

Keywords: Agricultural waste; Microwave heating; Platform chemicals; Seawater valorization; Sustainable waste management.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cellulose
Furaldehyde / analogs & derivatives
Microwaves
Saccharum*
Seawater

Substances

5-hydroxymethylfurfural
Cellulose
bagasse
Furaldehyde