Research Articles

The effects of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation on the changes in color and chemical structure of the surfaces of unbleached, PNaOH-, and PMg(OH)2- bleached deinked pulp (DIP) were studied by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. The analysis of color changes in pulp surfaces during the photo yellowing was performed by measuring the brightness loss, post color (PC) number, and CIELAB parameters (L*, a*, b*, and ΔE*). The results showed that the pulp brightness loss, PC number, and chromatic aberration had a linear relationship with b*. During the UV irradiation, the pulp brightness loss, PC number, and chromatic aberration (ΔE*) increased quickly, and then the changes slowed down. After being irradiated with UV for 360 min, the band intensity of the pulps at 1729 cm-1 increased distinctively and a new band at 1674 cm-1 appeared. This indicated that p-quinone groups were produced during the irradiation process, thus resulting in paper yellowing. The band intensity at 1674 cm-1 of PMg(OH)2-bleached pulp was lower than that of PNaOH-bleached pulp, which indicated that the brightness stability of PMg(OH)2 pulp was better than that of PNaOH pulp.

Waste paper was studied as a potential source for lipid production using the oleaginous yeast Cryptococcus curvatus for the first time. Three common types of waste paper, office paper, newspaper, and cardboard, were directly hydrolyzed by an enzyme cocktail to generate sugar-rich and nitrogen-limited hydrolysates. When these hydrolysates were used without any auxiliary nutrients by C. curvatus, the lipid content and lipid yield were higher than 50% and 200 mg/g, respectively. The nitrogen-rich enzyme cocktail exerted no negative effects on lipid production. Moreover, the integrated processes of enzymatic hydrolysis and lipid fermentation achieved comparable lipid yield to the separate hydrolysis and lipid production process. The resulting lipid samples had similar fatty acid compositional profiles to those of vegetable oils, which suggested their potential for biodiesel production. These findings strongly supported waste paper as appealing substrates for lipid production via oleaginous yeast, which provided cost-effective waste paper-to-lipids routes for sustainable biodiesel production.

This study evaluates the microscopic changes of paulownia solid wood panels subjected to thermal compression via characterizing the changes in wood microstructure. The panels, with dimensions of 500 mm × 100 mm × 20 mm, were hot-pressed in a tangential direction by using a laboratory-type hot press at a temperature of either 150 °C or 170 °C and a pressure of 2 MPa for 45 min. Microscopic investigations conducted by light microscopy showed that slightly more damage occurred in the samples compressed at 170 °C and 2 MPa than at 150 °C and 2 MPa, and that the distribution of deformation in the panels was not uniform in the growth rings of the two treatment groups. The cell collapse was not observed in the microstructure of paulownia wood after the thermal compression. Cell shapes and their arrangement in the growth ring alongside loading direction were interpreted as effective factors governing the non-uniform distribution of damage and the lack of cell collapse in the microstructure.

Bamboo filament, a material often used for indoor decoration, should be treated with flame retardants for safe use. This study evaluated the effects of different boron fire retardants on the heat release and smoke release of bamboo filaments and untreated samples via a cone analysis. A thermogravimetric analyzer (TA) instrument was used to investigate the fire retardant mechanisms of the different boron compounds. The results showed that compared to the untreated samples, fire retardants that contained boric acid or borax effectively reduced the heat and smoke release from the bamboo filament. The effects of the different ingredients in the fire retardant on the combustion process were quite different. During the combustion process, borax displayed better performance for restraining the heat release rate than boric acid, while for the total amount of heat release and the smoke suspension performance, the result was the converse. The excellent synergistic effect could be obtained by a mixture that contained a reasonable proportion of boric acid and borax (Boric Acid:Borax = 1:1). In the pyrolysis process, boric acid had stronger catalytic dehydration, while the mass loss in the treated samples with boric acid or higher proportions of boric acid was less than the loss in the borax-treated samples.

Ethanol organosolv lignin separated from bamboo was depolymerized by low-power microwave radiation (~80 W) using ethanol as a swelling agent and formic acid as a hydrogen donor solvent. After increasing the temperature from 100 to 200 °C, the total amount of phenolic compounds in the products increased from 8.1% to 40.8%, and both the weight average molecular weight (Mw) and number average molecular weight (Mn) of the products from the lignin depolymerization decreased. With extended reaction time from 20 to 60 min, the total amount of phenolic compounds and molecular weight did not remarkably change. In addition, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy showed that oxidative fracture was the primary way that lignin depolymerized. The severity factor played an important role in converting lignin into small molecular substances, and the evaluation showed that the microwave temperature was more influential on the lignin depolymerization than the reaction time. Because depolymerization and repolymerization of fragments both occurred during the microwave radiation process, it is critical to inhibit repolymerization of degraded fragments for the efficient degradation of lignin. This study not only provides a theoretical basis for studying the mechanism of microwave-assisted lignin degradation but is also important for the determination of a cost-effective lignin depolymerization method.

Arundo donax was used to investigate the effect of the enzyme and substrate concentrations on hydrolysis, pre-hydrolysis and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (PSSF), in comparison to simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). Hydrolysis was performed at 37 and 50 °C. At the highest biomass (10%) and enzyme (69.6 FPU/g cellulose) loadings, the highest glucose concentration (32.4 g/L) was obtained (at 50 °C). SSF resulted in a cellulose conversion (91.9%) and an ethanol concentration (19.8 g/L) higher than what was obtained using PSSF at 37 °C (86.9% and 18.8 g/L, respectively) and PSSF at 50 °C (81.6% and 17.7 g/L, respectively). A positive correlation between the cellulase concentration, cellulose conversion, and ethanol content was observed. In PSSF, the increase in the solids loadings caused a reduction in the % cellulose conversion, but the ethanol concentration in PSSF and SSF increased. SSF appeared to be the most advantageous process for bioethanol production from A. donax.

The low content of phenolic groups limits the application of lignin-based materials as biosorbents for the removal of metal ions. In this work, a novel gallic acid-grafted-lignin (GAL, 4.43 mmol/g hydroxyl group) biosorbent was designed by introducing gallic acid moieties to replace the hydroxyl groups of lignin. These grafted polyphenolic groups provide additional sites for the adsorption of metal ions. The structure of GAL was characterized by FT-IR, 31P NMR, and 13C NMR spectroscopy. The adsorption properties of GAL for Pb(II) ions were investigated under batch conditions. Kinetic and isothermal adsorption processes could be well-described by the pseudo-second order kinetic model and Langmuir isothermal model, respectively. The grafting of polyphenolic groups onto lignin increased the maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent for Pb(II) (119.1 mg/g). The adsorption thermodynamics indicated that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. In addition, GAL could selectively adsorb Pb(II) with a selectivity coefficient (k) at 1.89 in the presence of coexisting metal ions from aqueous solution. The high adsorption capacity and selectivity for Pb(II) by GAL, together with its environmental compatibility, enable this material to act as a promising biosorbent for removing heavy metal ions from polluted water.