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Evaluation of initial material particle size on the hydrothermal pretreatment of poplar powder

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Abstract

Initial material characteristics were one of the decisive factors affecting the hydrothermal pretreatment of woody biomass with a dense structure. In this study, the effect of initial material particle size on poplar hydrothermal pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis was evaluated. The enzymatic hydrolysis yield and the accessibility of the enzymatic reaction were significantly increased with an initial material with an average particle size of initial material (D50) < 500 μm, because of the different pretreatment effects of initial material. SEM and compositional analysis indicated that the reduction of the initial particle size facilitated hydrothermal pretreatment with better depolymerization effects. The bulk density of D50 < 500 μm increased by 28.87%, and the SSA increased by 68.51% compared with 2000–2500 μm. In contrast, the water holding capacity decreased by 59.40%. In addition, there was almost no free water in D50 < 500 μm and had weak mechanical properties, which was more conducive to the stirring of the hydrothermal pretreatment. Compared with the particle size of initial material being less than 100 μm, the D50 of initial material between 100 and 2500 μm was more energy saving and economically feasible. The particle size of poplar powder in this study could reduce pretreatment intensity and energy consumption and improve pretreatment energy efficiency significantly. This study was meaningful in identifying the size effects and exploring the optimal properties of initial material for poplar on hydrothermal pretreatment.

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Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant 2019YFB1503800) and the Transformational Technologies for Clean Energy and Demonstration (Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Grant No. XDA 21060300).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biomass Refining Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, People’s Republic of China

    Minglu Li, Lan Wang & Hongzhang Chen

  2. School of Chemical Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Minglu Li, Lan Wang & Hongzhang Chen

Authors
  1. Minglu Li
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  2. Lan Wang
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  3. Hongzhang Chen
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Contributions

All the authors contributed to the study conception and design.

Minglu Li: methodology, data collection, and analysis, writing.

Lan Wang: funding acquisition, investigation, project administration, supervision, writing — review and editing.

Hongzhang Chen: conceptualization, investigation, supervision, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Lan Wang.

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Highlights

• The particle size of initial material was the key factor in hydrothermal pretreatment.

• The reduction in particle size relieved the compactness of initial material.

• The enzymatic hydrolysis yield increased 31% when D50 < 500 μm.

• The D50 > 100 μm had an advantage in energy requirements and energy efficiency.

• D50 < 500 μm could reduce pretreatment intensity at the same enzymatic hydrolysis yield.

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Li, M., Wang, L. & Chen, H. Evaluation of initial material particle size on the hydrothermal pretreatment of poplar powder. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 11265–11277 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03165-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03165-x

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