NC State
BioResources
  • Editorialpp 1-2Wang, P., Qian, X., and Shen, J. (2018). "Superhydrophobic coatings with edible biowaxes for reducing or eliminating liquid residues of foods and drinks in containers," BioRes. 13(1), 1-2.AbstractArticlePDF

    Biowaxes, including carnauba wax and beeswax, are edible and renewable. Once dispersed in a polar solvent, these natural materials could be easily converted into nontoxic, “roll-off”, and superhydrophobic coatings on the basis of spray coating. The combination of container materials with these coatings can reduce or even eliminate liquid resides (including highly viscous residues) of foods and drinks in containers (e.g., bottles), significantly facilitating downstream operations. Comprehensive demonstrations of this green concept would generate huge opportunities for food/drink-related industries.

  • Editorialpp 3-5Zhu, S., Yang, M., Luo, F., Yang, X., and Xue, Y. (2018). "Engineering cell wall-degrading enzymes into growing plants to improve lignocellulosic ethanol production," BioRes. 13(1), 3-5.AbstractArticlePDF

    The plant cell wall (PCW) represents the most abundant renewable biomass resource for lignocellulosic ethanol production. Economical and efficient degradation of PCW to fermentable sugars is an essential sub-process during lignocellulosic ethanol production. At present, the recalcitrance of PCW to various pretreatments and enzymatic hydrolysis makes the PCW degradation unacceptably expensive. Engineering cell wall-degrading enzymes into growing plants provides a promising solution to lower the PCW degradation cost and increase its degradation efficiency for lignocellulosic ethanol production. Avoiding damage by the expressed biomass-degrading enzymes to growing plants is the key to successful use of this method. Two modern biological technologies can be used to solve this problem. One is to engineer a thermoregulated intein-modified cell wall-degrading enzyme into growing plants. The other is to use the gene-timed expression technique. This editorial will give a brief discussion of opportunities and challenges of engineering cell wall-degrading enzymes into growing plants for improvement of lignocellulosic ethanol production.

  • Researchpp 6-14Wu, H., Yang, X., Rao, J., Zhang, Y., and Sun, F. (2018). "Improvement of bamboo properties via in situ construction of polyhydroxyethyl methylacrylate and polymethyl methylacrylate networks," BioRes. 13(1), 6-14.AbstractArticlePDF

    The chemical modification of bamboo culm was explored based on in situ construction of polyhydroxyethyl methylacrylate (PHEMA) and polymethyl methylacrylate (PMMA) networks into the cell walls. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the synthesized polymers distributed in both the cell walls and the lumen with the pits blocked. The dimensional stability was tested under three water soaking-drying and moistening-drying cycles. The swelling efficiency of the treated bamboo was under 8% in three cycles of water soaking and drying cycles and was 4% in moistening-drying cycles. The anti-swelling efficiency was 60.5%, 52.7%, and 46.3%, respectively, in the moistening-drying cycles. Laboratory tests on mold resistance showed that no mycelium formed on the treated bamboo, while the untreated control was 100% covered by mold fungi.

  • Researchpp 15-26Avci, E., Acar, M., Gonultas, O., and Candan, Z. (2018). "Manufacturing biocomposites using black pine bark and oak bark," BioRes. 13(1), 15-26.AbstractArticlePDF

    Bark as a biowaste has a huge availability throughout the world and has had limited use in industrial applications. Black pine bark and oak bark were considered in this work. The aim was to manufacture a new biocomposite with different combination of black pine bark, oak bark, polypropylene, polyethylene, and a coupling agent, and to determine some physical and mechanical properties of the manufactured biocomposites. Density, thickness swelling, water absorption, tension strength, modulus of rapture and modulus of elasticity in bending and tension of the biocomposites were determined. According to the results, thickness swelling and water absorption properties were improved up to 80% when compared with wood-plastic composites (WPC) produced with wood flour. Although the new biocomposites displayed lower mechanical performance in comparison of biocomposites made with wood flour, the observed results were satisfactory. Based on the results of this study, black pine bark and oak bark can be used as filler materials in WPCs production. Hereby, these bark materials can be the raw material for value-added products. Bark use in biocomposite production also can contribute to reduced requirements of wood material and petroleum products.

  • Researchpp 27-42Li, J., Wang, B., Chen, K., Tian, J., Zeng, X., Xu, J., and Gao, W. (2018). "Optimization of pretreatment and alkaline cooking of wheat straw on its pulpability using response surface methodology," BioRes. 13(1), 27-42.AbstractArticlePDF

    The dissolution rates of the chemical compositions of alcohol-benzene extractables (ABE), holocellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in wheat straw (WS) under different pretreatment conditions were investigated. The individual and interactive effects of three independent parameters, namely, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) dosage (x1: 8 wt.% to 12 wt.%), sodium sulfide (Na2S) dosage (x2: 10 wt.% to 18 wt.%), and time to maximum temperature (x3: 100 min to 140 min) on screened yield, Kappa number, and brightness of wheat straw pulp (WSP) were analyzed via response surface methodology (RSM). The results suggested that the quadratic equations were in good agreement with the experimental figures in the present work. The relative errors of verification results were less than 5%, which indicated that the selected model for explaining the relationship between the variables and the responses was correct. In addition, the relationships between the screened yield, reject yield, brightness, and Kappa number were described and explained. Wheat straw pulpability was optimized in this study via RSM.

  • Researchpp 43-52Hamdan, S., Abdul Wahid, H., Musoddiq, I., and Yohanes, N. (2018). "Marimba instrument construction from kayu malam wood (Diospyros maingayi)," BioRes. 13(1), 43-52.AbstractArticlePDF

    This work investigated the possibility of using a local wood Kayu malam (Diospyros maingayi) to construct a marimba, a musical instrument. The marimba was constructed as similar as possible to the commercial rosewood marimba. The sound and established frequencies were compared with a commercial rosewood marimba. The findings showed that although the peak value of the spectrum from the prototype marimba differs from pitch to pitch, it is useful to note that the prototype marimba was tuned according to piano standard. The commercial marimba only has peaks at the lower end of the spectrum whereas the prototype marimba contained peaks up until the higher end of its spectrum. The marimba made of Kayu malam (D. maingayi) produced the same pitch as the marimba made of rosewood.

  • Researchpp 53-70Inwood, J. P. W., Pakzad, L., and Fatehi, P. (2018). "Production of sulfur containing kraft lignin products," BioRes. 13(1), 53-70.AbstractArticlePDF

    Kraft lignin is produced in great quantities in many countries, but is mainly used as an energy source. To valorize its potential end-use applications, softwood kraft lignin was modified via sulfuric acid and sodium sulfite treatments in this study. The modification of kraft lignin through a sulfuric acid treatment resulted in a modified lignin (SA-lignin) with a charge density of 0.8 meq/g but with a limited water solubility. The sulfonation of the kraft lignin through a sodium sulfite treatment induced a soluble sulfonated lignin (SS-lignin) with a charge density of 1.4 meq/g, which was obtained under the conditions of 90 °C, 4 h, and 0.67 Na2SO3/lignin molar ratio. The elemental compositions, molecular weights, and thermal and rheological properties of modified lignin samples were characterized.

  • Researchpp 71-85Wang, Q., Xiao, S., Shi, S., and Cai, L. (2017). "Mechanical strength, thermal stability, and hydrophobicity of fiber materials after removal of residual lignin," BioRes. 13(1), 71-85.AbstractArticlePDF

    The behaviors of the mechanical, hydrophobic, and thermal properties of the molded fiber product (MFP) were examined after the removal of residual lignin. The fibers resulting from the chemi-thermomechanical pulping and bleaching processes were treated by extended delignification, namely by their reaction with glacial acetic acid and sodium chlorite. The changes in surface composition, chemical structure, crystallinity, microstructure, and thermal stability of the MFP were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. Results showed that the composition and structure of carbohydrates on the fiber surface were not changed significantly, the lignin in fibers was almost completely removed, the relative content of intermolecular hydrogen bonds in cellulose and the contact area between fibers was increased, and the crystallinity index increased from 79.5% to 81.4% after the extended delignification. When the content of lignin decreased from 5.78% to 0.02%, the tensile strength of the MFP increased 25.6%, but little changes were found in the bending strength. The onset thermal decomposition temperature of MFP increased from 242 °C to 250 °C and the maximum rate of degradation temperature increased from 347 °C to 350 °C.

  • Researchpp 86-103Ramnath, L., Sithole, B., and Govinden, R. (2018). "The effects of wood storage on the chemical composition and indigenous microflora of Eucalyptus species used in the pulping industry," BioRes. 13(1), 86-103.AbstractArticlePDF

    Lipophilic extractives naturally occurring in wood tend to coalesce during pulping to form pitch deposits, which have particularly undesirable effects on the pulping process and quality of pulp produced. A chemical characterization of different eucalypt species [Eucalyptus nitens, E. grandis, and E. dunnii (of different site qualities)] wood and generated pulp was performed. This study aimed at determining the effects of wood storage at -20 °C (for 6 months), by examining their chemical composition and indigenous microflora. Fatty acids were the main lipophilic compounds among E. dunnii (SQ3 and SQ4) and E. grandis wood extractives. The wood of E. nitens posed the least risk for pitch deposit formation, making it the most suitable Eucalyptus species for pulping. Storage of wood chips at -20 °C had a similar effect as the traditional method of seasoning (storage of wood outdoors prior to pulping) used for the reduction of lipophilic extractives. A 25 to 44% reduction of total extractives was observed in the raw material after storage. Variations in bacterial and fungal communities were observed after storage, and should be taken into consideration when conducting lab scale trials. If storage of wood chips is necessary for lab testing, it should be retained for a maximum of 3 months at -20 °C.

  • Researchpp 104-114Částková, T., Hýsek, Š., Sikora, A., Schönfelder, O., and Böhm, M. (2018). "Chemical and physical parameters of different modifications of rape straw (Brassica napus L.)," BioRes. 13(1), 104-114.AbstractArticlePDF

    Material alternatives to wood, such as rape straw, are needed for the production of composite materials. This study performed an analysis of rape straw as a composite material source for production. There were three types of rape straw particle modification: untreated particles as reference variant, boiling in water, and soaking in sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. The pH and calorific value were highest for the variant soaked in NaOH. The total elemental content and the elements on the rape straw surface varied between variants. The modification method chosen influenced the pH, calorific value, elemental composition, and contact angle.

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