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The Southeastern Regional
Sun Grant Center
2506 Jacob Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-4570
Phone: (865) 946-1124
Fax: (865) 946-1109
Email: sungrant@tennessee.edu

Regional Competitive Grants

Project Title:  Use of Complex Fluids for Enhanced Cellulosic Pre-treatment – A Seed Project

Principal Investigators and affiliations:

  • PI: Orlando Rojas (North Carolina State University, Department of Wood and Paper Science)
  • Co-PI: Lucian Lucia (North Carolina State University, Department of Wood and Paper Science)
  • Co-PI: Daniel Saloni (North Carolina State University, Department of Wood and Paper Science)
  • Co-PI: Sudipta Dasmohapatra (North Carolina State University, Department of Wood and Paper Science)

Start Date:10/1/2007      End Date: 9/30/2008

Project Abstract:

Wood pretreatment and conditioning prior degradation for bioethanol production is an indispensable step in order to realize efficient conversion. Therefore, the main objective in this project is to investigate a novel rout using complex fluids, mainly microemulsion systems, for enhanced penetration in the micro- and nano- capillary structure of wood. Success in this endeavor will open a new avenue in efforts related to pretreatment of wood for bioethanol production.

We will perform microemulsion penetration experiments with wood chips. The microemulsion will be formulated with an aqueous and organic phase in such a way that SAD=0 will be obtained. Depending on the surfactant and oil-phase type, ultralow interfacial tensions (4-5 orders of magnitude lower than water at room temperature) will be obtained. In order to fine tune the microemulsion properties formulation variables will be varied. These variables include the equivalent alkane number of the oil phase, salinity and pH of the aqueous phase and the surfactant type.

Chemical and/or enzymatic pretreatment of lignocellulosics are important ways for deriving value from them (materials and energy) because the lignocellulosics are more amenable to further transformations. For example, they provide a platform for polymer generation (e.g., extracted sugars for hydrogels) and serve as a platform for bioethanol production from the extracted sugars and remaining substrate. Traditional pretreatment technologies that employ impregnation with acid or alkaline media typically involve simple formulations with very poor ability to open up the cell wall structure. High temperatures and pressures, or the combinations thereof are sometimes needed, making the process costly and inefficient. Opening up the cell wall structure is critical for the successful implementation of conversion technologies. Surprisingly, to this point very little research has been devoted to expand the range of impregnation media that can be used to economically and technically facilitate extraction and hydrolysis of the polysaccharide fraction of the lignocellulosics. In this proposal we will examine complex fluids known to have ultra-low interfacial tension usually used in oil-exploitation and enhanced oil recovery schemes, in order to accomplish the goal of enhancing bioethanol production.

Reports and Publications:

Quarter 1 - 2008
Quarter 2 - 2008
Project Final Report