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Electrical conductivity of beech sawdust using graphite catalytic coating: unlocking the microwave-assisted thermolysis efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass.

ABSTRACT: The coating of the beech sawdust using a catalytic amount of graphite (as low as 0.25 wt%) allowed a step improvement in the microwave-assisted thermolysis. Results demonstrated that the pyrolysis performance was linked to an electrical conductivity threshold of the coated samples rather than a gradual increase. With as low as 0.13 mS m^-1 of electrical conductivity, the 0.75 wt% graphite coated sawdust (250-500 μm) was efficiently gasified with up to 43 wt% of gas (30 wt% of carbon monoxide, 25 vol% of hydrogen). Initial particle size impacted the thermolysis performance where optimal size (250-500 μm) provided high heat homogeneity due to efficient graphite coating and low temperature gradient between the outer and inner part of the sawdust. The small initial particle size (75-250 μm) was unsuitable for microwave pyrolysis, exhibiting a too large surface area for efficient coating with 0.75 wt% of graphite which was confirmed by the absence of electrical conductivity (<0.003 mS m^-1). The electrical conductivity can be used as a marker to evaluate the suitability of the sample for microwave-assisted pyrolysis. Unlike simple graphite mixing, the mechanical coating allowed more than 20-fold decrease of susceptor quantity, providing more homogeneous samples with higher reproducibility.

SUBMITTER: Bouxin FP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8314977 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe recalcitrance of cellulosic biomass is widely recognized as a key barrier to cost-effective biological processing to fuels and chemicals, but the relative impacts of physical, chemical and genetic interventions to improve biomass processing singly and in combination have yet to be evaluated systematically. Solubilization of plant cell walls can be enhanced by non-biological augmentation including physical cotreatment and thermochemical pretreatment, the choice of biocatalyst, the choice of plant feedstock, genetic engineering of plants, and choosing feedstocks that are less recalcitrant natural variants. A two-tiered combinatoric investigation of lignocellulosic biomass deconstruction was undertaken with three biocatalysts (Clostridium thermocellum, Caldicellulosiruptor bescii, Novozymes Cellic® Ctec2 and Htec2), three transgenic switchgrass plant lines (COMT, MYB4, GAUT4) and their respective nontransgenic controls, two Populus natural variants, and augmentation of biological attack using either mechanical cotreatment or cosolvent-enhanced lignocellulosic fractionation (CELF) pretreatment.ResultsIn the absence of augmentation and under the conditions tested, increased total carbohydrate solubilization (TCS) was observed for 8 of the 9 combinations of switchgrass modifications and biocatalysts tested, and statistically significant for five of the combinations. Our results indicate that recalcitrance is not a trait determined by the feedstock only, but instead is coequally determined by the choice of biocatalyst. TCS with C. thermocellum was significantly higher than with the other two biocatalysts. Both CELF pretreatment and cotreatment via continuous ball milling enabled TCS in excess of 90%.ConclusionBased on our results as well as literature studies, it appears that some form of non-biological augmentation will likely be necessary for the foreseeable future to achieve high TCS for most cellulosic feedstocks. However, our results show that this need not necessarily involve thermochemical processing, and need not necessarily occur prior to biological conversion. Under the conditions tested, the relative magnitude of TCS increase was augmentation?>?biocatalyst choice?>?plant choice?>?plant modification?>?plant natural variants. In the presence of augmentation, plant modification, plant natural variation, and plant choice exhibited a small, statistically non-significant impact on TCS.

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Electrical conductivity of beech sawdust using graphite catalytic coating: unlocking the microwave-assisted thermolysis efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass.

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