Volume 7 Issue 3

Lignocellulosic biomass is considered the most abundant renewable resource that has the potential to contribute remarkably in the supply of biofuel. Previous studies have shown that chemical pretreatment prior to anaerobic digestion (AD) can increase the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass and methane yield. In the present study, the effect of rice straw pretreatment using ammonium hydroxide (NH3•H2O) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the biogasification performance through AD was investigated. A self-designed, laboratory-scale, and continuous anaerobic biogas digester was used for the evaluation. Results showed that the contents of the rice straw, i.e. the lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose were degraded significantly after the NH3•H2O and H2O2 treatments, and that biogas production from all pretreated rice straw increased. In addition, the optimal treatments for biogas production were the 4% and 3% H2O2 treatments (w/w), which yielded 327.5 and 319.7 mL/gVS, biogas, respectively, higher than the untreated sample. Biogas production from H2O2 pretreated rice straw was more favorable than rice straw pretreated with same concentration of ammonia, ranking in the order of 4% ≈ 3% > 2% > 1%. The optimal amount of H2O2 treatment for rice straw biogas digestion is 3% when economics and biogas yields are considered.

Peroxidase catalyzes the oxidation of various electron donor substrates such as phenol and aromatic amines in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. In this study, peroxidase was purified 164-fold from the leaves of Moringa oleifera L. with a recovery of 28% by ammonium sulphate precipitation, DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, Sephadex G-200 column chromatography, and Con-A column chromatography. SDS-PAGE showed a polypeptide band with molecular weight of 43 kDa. The enzyme was found to be a single subunit in nature. The purified enzyme displayed optimum activity at pH 6.0 and at a temperature of 50 °C with a Km value of 0.2335 mM for guaiacol as best substrate. It is a glycoprotein that contains 9.05% sugar as estimated by the phenol sulfuric acid method. Some ions (Ni²⁺, Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺, Al³⁺, Mg²⁺, Cu²⁺, Co²⁺, and Cd²⁺) exhibited low inhibitory effect while Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺, and Hg²⁺ exhibited strong inhibitory effects. EDTA markedly inhibited the peroxidase activity.

Turkey annually produces 26 million tons of vegetables and is the third-biggest vegetable producer. After harvest, the waste of vegetable stalks lacking of economic value is burnt or left in the fields, causing environmental pollution. The aim of this study was to examine bioethanol production of a mixture of tomato, pepper, and eggplant stalks using an alternative chemical, sodium borohydrate (NaBH4) in a chemical pretreatment step. Both steam-exploded (SE) and dry-milled (DM) stalks were chemically pretreated and enzymatically hydrolyzed in this study. Results showed that SE stalks had better enzymatic digestibility compared to DM. NaOH treatment removed the highest amount of lignin (17.1%; SE, 2%, 90 min) but also glucose (21.5%; SE, 2%, 90 min) from the structure. On the other hand, NaBH4 removed the highest lignin in proportion to glucose for both SE and DM samples. Enzymatically hydrolyzed stalks gave the highest sugar yields of 30.1% (o.d.-dry matter) for the SE sample when it was pretreated with 2% NaOH for 30 min.

In this research, effects of steaming and microwave pretreatments on the mass transfer properties of never-dried Q. infectoria were investigated. Specimens at green moisture content were exposed to microwaves of frequency 2450 MHz for 10 minutes. The pre-steaming was performed at a temperature of 160°C for 1 hour under a pressure of 2 to 3 bars. Air permeability values were measured to be 4.8 and 4.9 ( × 10^-16m³ m^-1) in the sapwood and heartwood, respectively. Results showed a significant general increase in the air permeability and diffusion coefficients in the pretreated sapwood specimens. The presence of tyloses in the heartwood prevented the penetration of steam to the inner parts of the specimens, resulting in the diffusion coefficient remaining constant. The pressure gradient caused by the microwave heating resulted in the distortion of the tyloses structure in the heartwood, thus resulting in a significant increase in the air permeability. It may be concluded that the presence of tyloses has a significant effect on the final impact of either of the pretreatments.

The high silica content of wheat straw is an important limiting factor for straw pulping. High silica content complicates processing and black liquor recovery, wears out factory installations, and lowers paper quality. Each section of wheat straw has different cells and chemical compositions and thus different silica content. In this work, the silica content of balled straw samples were examined according to their physical components, including internodes, nodes, leaves (sheath and blade), rachis, grain, other plant bodies, and other plant spikes. Mass distribution of silica was determined by a dry ashing method. Half (50.90%) of the silica comes from leaves, and its mechanical separation will reduce the silica content in wheat straw pulp significantly. Destroying silica bodies by sonication will increase the strength properties of straw pulp.

In the present work, the production of dissolving pulp from fast growing 30-year-old local plantation aspen was investigated. The mill-made chips of aspen (Populus deltoides) after being pre-hydrolyzed with water at 170 ºC, were pulped with a soda-AQ pulping process at a kappa number of 15. It was further delignified to a kappa number of 9.2 using a single stage oxygen delignification and bleached with a D0ED1 bleaching sequence at different kappa factor. The pulp viscosity was increased at higher brightness and similar α-cellulose when the kappa factor was increased from 0.30 to 0.45 in the D0 stage of the D0ED1 bleaching sequence, due to higher lignin dissolution and more fiber purification. The results showed that pre-hydrolyzed soda-AQ dissolving pulp can be made from Populus deltoides at a high level of alpha-cellulose content and acceptable levels of brightness and viscosity by means of proper control and optimization of pre-hydrolysis, pulping, and oxygen pretreatment conditions, and an optimized DED bleaching sequence.

This study investigated the effect of filler loading and coupling agent contents on the densities and mechanical properties of injection-molded foamed biocomposites. Biocomposite pellets were manufactured using wheat straw flour, maleic anhydrite grafted polyethylene (MAPE), paraffin wax, and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with an extrusion process. Pellets and the chemical foaming agent (azodicarbonamide) were dry-mixed and foamed in an injection-molding machine. Densities and mechanical properties of the foamed biocomposites samples were measured and analyzed using central composite design (CCD). The results showed that both filler loading and coupling agent contents affected the density and mechanical properties of foamed biocomposites. Densities in the range of 0.57 to 0.81 gr cm^-3 were achieved. Best results were obtained when less than 20% wheat straw flour and 1% coupling agent content were used. The flexural modulus and tensile modulus of foamed biocomposites were improved with increasing filler loading. However, flexural strength, tensile strength, elongation at break, and impact strength values were diminished. The tensile strength of the biocomposites was positively affected by CA contents, but other mechanical properties were not affected by it. Overall, injection molded foamed biocomposites with moderate mechanical properties were produced.

Relationships between the coefficient of thermal conductivity (CTC) and the strength properties of wood were investigated. Small clear test specimens were prepared from beech, fir, and pine wood. CTC values of the test specimens were measured based on the ASTM C 1113-99 hot-wire method. Wood density and some mechanical properties were then determined according to related ISO standards. In order to designate relationships between the CTC and mechanical properties, linear regression analysis was performed. Significant linear correlations were found between the CTC and the specific gravity, the modulus of rupture, the modulus of elasticity, and the impact bending strength of the wood from all tree species. However, there was a weak and non-significant relationship between the CTC and the compression strength of the specimens from each tree species. As a consequence, the CTC has a considerable potential in nondestructive evaluation of wood density and strength. However, the reciprocal correlations among the MC-strength, MC-CTC, temperature-strength, and temperature-CTC appear to be most significant limitations for using CTC as a NDE method for wood. Further detailed investigations are needed.

The use of fillers tends to reduce paper strength, which can limit their application. Therefore research on filler modification is of significant importance in order to overcome this limitation. In this paper, precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) was modified by starch, sodium stearate, and the starch cross-linking agent sodium hexametaphosphate. The purpose of this research is to provide useful references to the industrial application of modified precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC). Modified precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) was characterized by particle size analyzer and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The analysis showed that the particle size of the modified PCC was significantly increased versus the control. The morphology of modified PCC also greatly changed. The influence of modified and unmodified PCC filled paper on paper physical performance was studied. The experimental results showed that at the same ash content, modified PCC filled paper compared with unmodified PCC filled paper had higher brightness, lower opacity, and higher physical strength. The impact of modified and unmodified PCC on stock retention and the comparison between modified and unmodified PCC were investigated. The experimental results showed that the stock filled with modified PCC had better retention compared to those filled with unmodified PCC.

Effects of cold oxygen plasma treatment on activating the surface of poplar veneers and improving its wettability were investigated. The veneers were treated with cold oxygen plasma for 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 min, and aged in air for 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. The dynamic adhesive wettability of veneers was assessed using the contact angle, K-value analysis, and surface free energy. The shear strength of three-layer panels produced from untreated and cold oxygen plasma treated veneers was examined. The results showed that the wettability of veneer was significantly improved after cold oxygen plasma treatment, leading to the enhancement of shear strength of panels. The optimized treatment time should be 7 min. Aging effect of treated veneers showed that the veneer surface wettability degraded within the first 7 days and thereafter changed slightly.