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Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) wood chips were pretreated with aqueous sodium hydroxide, sodium borohydride, and hydrogen peroxide pretreatments, and the characterization (i.e., amount, molar masses, and molar mass distributions) of the lignin dissolved during the pretreatments was performed. Of the applied pretreatments, especially borohydride pretreatments were efficient in dissolving lignin from this feedstock, as 20% to 28% of the dissolved organics were found to consist of dissolved lignin, contributing to 3.4% to 9.0% of the initial wood lignin. Corresponding values for 2.5% and 5.0% alkaline peroxide pretreatments were from 5.9% to 9.2% dissolved lignin of the total dissolved organics and from 1.1% to 3.2% of the initial wood lignin. Additionally, determined molar masses and molar mass distributions indicated that borohydride pretreatments generally led to the formation of smaller-molar-mass lignin fragments when compared to reference pretreatments and to pretreatments conducted with alkaline peroxide process, indicating more efficient lignin degradation caused by borohydride addition. For example, Mn and Mw values of the analyzed reference effluents were 54%-62% and 66%-71% higher when compared to the corresponding borohydride effluents, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycled bed sand from a power plant's fluidized bed reactor was used to remove humic substances (HSs) from surface water samples. The performance of sand samples screened into different size fractions together with unscreened sand was evaluated in removing HSs by performing shaking and column experiments, and by monitoring the quality of the treated water samples in terms of pH, conductivity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and colour. At the beginning of the column experiments, the used sand fractions removed HSs with over 80% efficiency. However, as the experiments proceeded, the removal efficiency rapidly decreased, reaching a steady state during which a column filled with small-particle-size screened sand removed 20–25% of the COD and colour at a 2.2 kg/h flow speed, and 25–35% of the COD and 30–35% of the colour at a slow 0.5 kg/h flow speed. With unscreened sand, the corresponding COD and colour removal efficiencies were 10–20% (COD) and 10–18% (colour) for fast column experiments, and 22–27% for COD and 25–30% for colour during slow column experiments. Elemental analysis revealed that recycled fluidized bed sand contained several cationic compounds known to form complexes with HSs. Especially calcium together with aluminium and iron are potential candidates for removing colour and COD from the water samples. Highlights Recycled fluidized bed sand could be used as a low-cost adsorbent material for removing HSs from surface water samples Especially the COD and colour of the water samples could be reduced by the sand treatments Fluidized bed sand contained several cationic compounds forming complexes with HSs No significant amounts of heavy metals were leached during the sand treatments [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the combustion behavior of birch and spruce kraft black liquors obtained from an integrated forest biorefinery concept in which a hot water extraction of chips was performed before pulping. This pretreatment, aiming mainly at the recovery of various hemicellulose-derived materials, increased the concentrations of lignin and hydroxy acids in black liquors, compared with those in the reference black liquors without any process modification. On the other hand, the pretreatment decreased the concentrations of volatile acids and other organics (extractives and hemicellulose residues). Because of these characteristic changes, the total burning times (pyrolysis time plus char burning time) of the reference black liquors were somewhat longer than those of black liquors from the modified cooking process. The novel biorefinery-based black liquors also swell more than the conventional ones. This phenomenon was primarily associated with the combined effect of high-molar-mass lignin fragments and hydroxy acids. All of the detected changes in combustion behavior were more intense for birch black liquors than for spruce black liquors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical composition of black liquors obtained from the soda-AQ pulping of birch ( Betula pendula) sawdust was studied as a function of cooking time, effective alkali content, and hot-water pretreatment of the sawdust prior to delignification. Special attention was paid on the formation of lignin-derived materials and low-molecular-mass carbohydrate-derived degradation products containing aliphatic carboxylic acids. In the case of the hot-water-pretreated feedstock, less acetic acid and formic acid and more nonvolatile hydroxy acids (especially monocarboxylic acids) were obtained. The observations can be interpreted as a result of the extensive removal of hemicelluloses during the hot-water pretreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Untreated and hot water-treated birch (Betula pendula) sawdust were cooked by the oxygen-alkali method under the same cooking conditions (temperature = 170°C, liquor-to-wood ratio = 5 L/kg, and 19% sodium hydroxide charge on the ovendry sawdust). The pretreatment of feedstock clearly facilitated delignification. After a cooking time of 90 min, the kappa numbers were 47.6 for the untreated birch and 10.3 for the hot water-treated birch. Additionally, the amounts of hydroxy acids in black liquors based on the pretreated sawdust were higher (19.5-22.5 g/L) than those in the untreated sawdust black liquors (14.8-15.5 g/L). In contrast, in the former case, the amounts of acetic acid were lower in the pretreated sawdust (13.3-14.8 g/L vs. 16.9-19.1 g/L) because the partial hydrolysis of the acetyl groups in xylan already took place during the hot water extraction of feedstock. The sulfur-free fractions in the pretreatment hydrolysates (mainly carbohydrates and acetic acid) and in black liquors (mainly lignin and aliphatic carboxylic acids) were considered as attractive novel byproducts of chemical pulping [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) chips were pre-treated with alkaline solutions (alkali charges of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8% of NaOH on the oven-dried wood material) at 130°C and 150°C for various treatment times (30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes). Under these conditions, 2.0–13.6% of the wood d.s. was dissolved into the aqueous hydrolysates. The soluble organic fraction was primarily characterized in terms of carbohydrates (monosaccharides and oligo-/polysaccharides) and their alkali-catalyzed degradation products: aliphatic carboxylic acids containing, besides non-volatile hydroxy carboxylic acids, volatile formic and acetic acids. With increasing alkali charge, temperature, and time, the enhanced formation of various hydroxy monocarboxylic acids was detected. Under the most drastic pre-treatment conditions, two-thirds of the total organic fraction dissolved was composed of various aliphatic carboxylic acids, the residual material being mainly degraded lignin and extractives. Only relatively small concentrations of carbohydrates and trace amounts of furans were found. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Various chemometric techniques were used to establish the relationship between the autohydrolysis conditions prior to pulping and the chemical compositions of the soluble organic materials removed from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) wood chips. The aqueous chip pre-treatments (autohydrolysis) were administered at 130 °C and 150 °C for 30, 60, 90, and 120 min, and the hydrolysates obtained were characterized in terms of total carbohydrates (various mono-, oligo-, and polysaccharides together with uronic acid side groups), volatile acids (acetic and formic acids), lignin, and furans (furfural and 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural). Based on the analytical data gathered, a relatively accurate model for pine chip autohydrolysis was developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]