Low-temperature highly selective water delignification based on geopolymer materials

Abstract

Delignification pretreatment is the main source of high cost and high pollution in biomass processing. This paper reports on a simple cheap geopolymers-based highly selective and efficient pretreatment process for delignification under low-temperature water-cooking without discharging black liquor. The geopolymer with a SiO₂/Al₂O₃ ratio of 4.4 showed the largest number of acidic sites and highest catalytic activity. Under mild reaction conditions (m_Geopolymer/m_Fiber = 1/4, 90 min and 90 °C), the delignification rates of woody (eucalyptus) and herbaceous (bagasse) biomass increased by up to 38.90% and 62.20%, respectively. Moreover, the low-alkali black liquor produced by the new water delignification process facilitates subsequent water treatment, eliminating the need for alkali recovery. This study confirms the immense application prospects of geopolymers for the highly selective delignification of most biomass fibre. This study will develop a low-temperature water-cooking process for the delignification of papermaking or biomass processing without wastewater discharge.

Keywords: Biomass processing; Lignin; Lignocellulose; Pre-treatment; Water delignification.