Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Usama Shakeel, Xinlong Li, Biao Wang, Fanhui Geng, Quan Zhang, Kai Zhang, Xia Xu, Jian Xu
Summary: Sequential alkaline pretreatment was applied to investigate the degradation of lignin, structure of residual lignin, and the heterogeneous susceptibility of lignin bonds. The relationship between alkaline pretreatment and lignin bond degradation needs further understanding.
PROCESS BIOCHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhaoyang Yuan, Grace E. Klinger, Saeid Nikafshar, Yanbin Cui, Zhen Fang, Manar Alherech, Shannon Goes, Colin Anson, Sandip K. Singh, Bryan Bals, David B. Hodge, Mojgan Nejad, Shannon S. Stahl, Eric L. Hegg
Summary: The study demonstrates that using both oxygen and hydrogen peroxide as co-oxidants during alkaline-oxidative pretreatment can significantly improve biomass fractionation and increase enzymatic digestibility. The addition of O-2 has a significant impact on delignification, while the presence of hydrogen peroxide is equally crucial.
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Jinye Wang, Yong Xu, Xianzhi Meng, Yunqiao Pu, Arthur Ragauskas, Junhua Zhang
Summary: The study demonstrated successful production of XOS from poplar through AA pretreatment, with a high yield of 55.8%. The inhibition degree of lignin in poplar increased from 1.0% to 6.8% after AA pretreatment, with lignin being acetylated and its molecular weight decreasing significantly. The increase in S/G ratio, phenolic hydroxyl, and condensed units of lignin after AA pretreatment may contribute to the intensified inhibition observed.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Meishan Fan, Jun Li, Zhu Liu, Caiqun Li, Hongdan Zhang, Jun Xie, Yong Chen
Summary: In this study, CrCl3 and CrCl3-catalyzed ethanol pretreatment were investigated as green and effective depolymerization processes to improve cellulose conversion from poplar pretreated residues. The influence of pretreatment temperature on delignification, lignin structure, and glucose and ethanol yields was analyzed to highlight the synergy effect of CrCl3 and ethanol solvent. The results showed that CrCl3-catalyzed ethanol pretreatment at 200 degrees C achieved high hemicellulose and lignin removal rates, leading to significant glucose and ethanol yields. The structural changes of lignin were observed and their relationship with enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation efficiency was determined.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Shao-Fei Sun, Hai-Yan Yang, Jing Yang, Zheng-Jun Shi
Summary: The study proposed a method combining microwave-assisted hydrothermal pretreatment and alkaline post-treatment for separating lignin from poplar wood and revealing its structural characteristics. The integration increased the yield of lignins and decreased the sugar content, while promoting the cracking of beta-O-4 ethers in lignin macromolecules. This work is beneficial for improving lignin fractionation and efficient utilization in the biorefinery industry.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
(2021)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Meysam Madadi, Dan Liu, Yuanhang Qin, Yinchao Zhang, Keikhosro Karimi, Meisam Tabatabaei, Vijai Kumar Gupta, Mortaza Aghbashlo, Sameh Samir Zahoor, Sameh Samir Ali
Summary: This study aims to develop an integrated pretreatment technology for the complete conversion of poplar biomass to XOS, glucose, and native-like lignin, using TsOH-catalyzed LHW and short-time ball milling. The optimized TsOH-catalyzed LHW pretreatment solubilized 98.5% of hemicellulose, releasing 49.8% XOS. Subsequent ball milling improved the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose and reduced crystallinity. This research proposes a sustainable waste-free biorefinery for biomass valorization.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Lu Liu, Baojie Liu, Xiangyu Li, Zenglin Wang, Linlin Mu, Chengrong Qin, Chen Liang, Caoxing Huang, Shuangquan Yao
Summary: The effect of mannitol was studied on the separation of poplar using mannitol-assisted oxalic acid pretreatment. The optimized conditions for separation efficiency were identified. Hemicellulose separation was achieved at 79.08%, while the separation of cellulose and lignin decreased. Smooth fiber surfaces and changes in lignin structure were observed, indicating lignin prevention. The environmentally friendly separation of hemicellulose provides a practical approach for resolving lignin problems during organic acid pretreatment.
INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS
(2023)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Yan Su, Caoxing Huang, Chenhuan Lai, Qiang Yong
Summary: The promising pretreatment using a biomass-derived deep eutectic solvent (DES) with choline chloride effectively removed lignin and xylan while preserving cellulose, resulting in a glucose yield of 75.8% under optimal conditions. The recovered lignin showed potential as a polyphenolic antioxidant due to its molecular weight, low polydispersity, and abundance of phenolic OH groups. Overall, this work demonstrated a biorefinery technology for the effective fractionation and valorization of lignocellulosic biomass.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Jiao Li, Baojie Liu, Lu Liu, Yadan Luo, Fanyan Zeng, Chengrong Qin, Chen Liang, Caoxing Huang, Shuangquan Yao
Summary: Organic acid pretreatment is an effective method for separating lignocellulosic biomass, but lignin repolymerization hinders the process. A new organic acid pretreatment using levulinic acid was studied to overcome this issue. Optimal conditions for hemicellulose separation were determined at a levulinic acid concentration of 7.0%, temperature of 170 degrees C, and time of 100 minutes. The use of levulinic acid led to a significant increase in hemicellulose separation compared to acetic acid pretreatment, attributed to the inhibitory effect of gamma-valerolactone on lignin repolymerization.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Shao-Chao Sun, Dan Sun, Han-Yin Li, Xue-Fei Cao, Shao-Ni Sun, Jia-Long Wen
Summary: This study successfully extracted lignin with high yield and ultra-high purity from poplar using a combined method of hydrothermal pretreatment and alkali extraction. Confocal Raman microscopy analysis revealed that lignin was preferentially delignified in the secondary wall and compound middle lamella, then throughout the entire morphological regions of the cell wall. NMR results showed that the cleavage of beta-O-4 linkages was the dominant reaction, leading to an increase in phenolic hydroxyl groups, a decrease in molecular weight, and heterogeneity of the isolated lignin.
INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Eng Kein New, Ta Yeong Wu, Khai Shing Voon, Alessandra Procentese, Katrina Pui Yee Shak, Wen Hui Teoh, Jun Wei Lim, Jamaliah Md Jahim
Summary: This study demonstrates that the utilization of type II ChCl-based DESs for oil palm frond pretreatment can effectively achieve biomass valorization, especially ChCl:CaCl2 center dot 6H(2)O shows significant removal of ligno-hemicellulose, facilitating the conversion of enzymatic products in subsequent stages.
INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Ying Xia, Qiying Liu, Xiaohong Hu, Xu Li, Yongwang Huang, Wenzhi Li, Longlong Ma
Summary: Hydrogen peroxide pretreatment combined with saturated calcium hydroxide solution effectively removed lignin and induced hemicellulose solubility in ferrous sulfate solution, facilitating subsequent cellulose conversion. This study demonstrates that oxidative pretreatment is an effective method for refining lignocellulose and enhancing cellulose conversion.
INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Paper & Wood
Joni Lehto, Marko Huttunen, Maryam Ghalibaf, Raimo Alen
Summary: The pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) was used to investigate the pyrolytical conversion of birch lignin fractions separated from hot-water pretreatment/sulfur-free delignification black liquors. The results showed that relatively pure aromatic fractions, mainly of guaiacol and syringol origin, without carbohydrate impurities, could be produced by this integrated biorefinery approach. The formation of the individual pyrolytical components was characteristically dependent on the utilized production conditions, creating the possibility for adjustment of the process parameters for pronounced production of desired product fractions. This sulfur-free concept facilitated the environmentally friendly production of aromatics, without the need for removing sulfur or carbohydrates-derived impurities from the liquid feedstocks. The approach presented in this manuscript is of practical importance for developing rapid and reliable characterization tools for lignocellulosics-originated feedstocks and creating novel biorefinery concept alternatives for producing aromatics and chemical precursors from currently underutilized feedstock, lignin.
CELLULOSE CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Peiyao Wen, Ying Zhang, Junjun Zhu, Yong Xu, Junhua Zhang
Summary: Alkaline post-incubation was effective in reducing the usage of HPAA, enhancing the safety of pretreatment, and significantly promoting the enzymatic hydrolysis of poplar.
BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIOFUELS
(2021)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Cheng-Ye Ma, Ling-Hua Xu, Qian Sun, Shao-Ni Sun, Xue-Fei Cao, Jia-Long Wen, Tong-Qi Yuan
Summary: This study developed an ultrafast alkaline deep eutectic solvents (DES) pretreatment strategy to efficiently extract lignin nanoparticles and retain cellulose residues for the production of fermentative glucose. The DES pretreatment showed excellent delignification performance and the regenerated DES lignin nanoparticles exhibited well-preserved structures and antioxidant activity, making them suitable for the production of chemicals and lignin-based materials.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Sandip K. Singh
Summary: Plant biomass is a promising candidate for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Pretreatment plays a crucial role in separating cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, removing inhibitors and enhancing enzyme activity. Biological treatment methods are eco-friendly, easy to operate and operate at mild conditions, making them advantageous for biomass processing.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhaoyang Yuan, Grace E. Klinger, Saeid Nikafshar, Yanbin Cui, Zhen Fang, Manar Alherech, Shannon Goes, Colin Anson, Sandip K. Singh, Bryan Bals, David B. Hodge, Mojgan Nejad, Shannon S. Stahl, Eric L. Hegg
Summary: The study demonstrates that using both oxygen and hydrogen peroxide as co-oxidants during alkaline-oxidative pretreatment can significantly improve biomass fractionation and increase enzymatic digestibility. The addition of O-2 has a significant impact on delignification, while the presence of hydrogen peroxide is equally crucial.
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Xu-Jing Liu, Ming-Fei Li, Sandip K. Singh
Summary: The study successfully prepared an adsorbent from lignin-derived biochar modified with MnO2, which showed significantly enhanced adsorption capacity for methylene blue dye. The modified biochar exhibited higher efficiency and decolorization rate in removing methylene blue, demonstrating potential application in reducing environmental pollution.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY-JMR&T
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zhi-Hua Liu, Naijia Hao, Yun-Yan Wang, Chang Dou, Furong Lin, Rongchun Shen, Renata Bura, David B. Hodge, Bruce E. Dale, Arthur J. Ragauskas, Bin Yang, Joshua S. Yuan
Summary: Biological lignin valorization is a major solution for sustainable and cost-effective biorefineries, but the dilemma of lignin conversion can be resolved through 'plug-in processes of lignin' to achieve efficient processing of lignin and carbohydrates.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Graham Tindall, Bronson Lynn, Carter Fitzgerald, Lucas Valladares, Zachariah Pittman, Villo Becsy-Jakab, David Hodge, Mark Thies
Summary: By mixing hybrid poplar lignin with hot ethanol-water solutions, controlled molecular weight liquefied lignin fractions can be obtained, effectively removing impurities and concentrating carbohydrates and metal impurities in a process stream with potential value.
MRS COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Mason Chin, Sang Mi Suh, Zhen Fang, Eric L. Hegg, Tianning Diao
Summary: Lignin, a complex polymer in biomass, can be depolymerized into phenylpropanoid monomers using reverse biosynthesis, which can be further utilized in the production of fragrances, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sandip K. Singh, Paresh L. Dhepe
Summary: Investigations on the composition analysis and properties of lignocellulosic materials are important in understanding the effects of recovery methods and substrate dependency. This study analyzed three rice husks samples and quantified the alpha-, beta-, and gamma-cellulose, pentosan, and silica content. The correlations between biomass source, lignin recovery, properties, and depolymerization were studied using various analytical techniques. The recovered lignin was found to be free of polysaccharides and associated with specific moieties, with varying intensities.
WASTE AND BIOMASS VALORIZATION
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yuting Zhou, Grace E. Klinger, Eric L. Hegg, Christopher M. Saffron, James E. Jackson
Summary: This study presents a mild aqueous process using skeletal Ni cathodes for the electrocatalytic hydrogenolysis of diaryl ethers, which enables direct C-O cleavage without initial benzene ring saturation. The authors identified two distinct cleavage mechanisms and discovered the ability of acetone to control the product ring saturation. This research not only addresses the current bottleneck in biomass conversion, but also provides insights into defluorination reactions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhen Fang, James E. Jackson, Eric L. Hegg
Summary: Electroreduction holds promise as a candidate strategy for depolymerizing lignin, offering a mild, environmentally friendly, and low-cost method to break the most common beta-O-4 bond. This study investigates the room-temperature electroreductive cleavage of four common lignin samples and achieves encouraging results.
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Sandip K. Singh, Babasaheb M. Matsagar, Paresh L. Dhepe
Summary: For the development of an effective lignocellulosic biomass conversion technology, it is important to characterize the composition and properties of the biomass. This study developed a simple method to quantitatively analyze the cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and silica content of wheat straw and bagasse samples. The results showed that the bagasse samples contained higher proportions of structural biopolymers. Lignin recovery using acid hydrolysis showed significant differences in properties, and depolymerization of the lignin samples using different catalysts yielded high product yields.
BIOMASS CONVERSION AND BIOREFINERY
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Brian K. Saulnier, Mohsen Siahkamari, Sandip K. Singh, Mojgan Nejad, David B. Hodge
Summary: This study evaluated the impact of pretreatment conditions on lignin extractability, properties, and utility in wood phenol-formaldehyde (PF) adhesives by subjecting corn stover to dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment. The findings showed that both formic acid and NaOH could extract and recover a significant amount of lignin after pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis, while still achieving reasonable enzymatic hydrolysis yields. The availability of reaction sites for lignin incorporation into the PF polymer matrix was strongly influenced by the pretreatment time and recovery. Additionally, a lignin-based wood adhesive was developed by replacing phenol with formic-acid-extracted lignin, which exhibited superior dry shear strength compared to conventional PF adhesives.
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Elise D. Rivett, Hannah G. Addis, Jonathan V. Dietz, Jayda A. Carroll-Deaton, Shipra Gupta, Koji L. Foreman, Minh Anh Dang, Jennifer L. Fox, Oleh Khalimonchuk, Eric L. Hegg
Summary: In aerobic respiration, heme a is required for the final step catalyzed by aa3-type cytochrome c oxidase. The conversion of heme b to heme o and ultimately to heme a is achieved through two modifications, with the conversion of a methyl group to an aldehyde being catalyzed by heme a synthase (HAS). Previous studies have shown that HAS contains two heme-binding sites, with one site occupied by heme b. However, the function of the other site is still unknown.
ARCHIVES OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOPHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Zhaoyang Yuan, Bryan D. Bals, Eric L. Hegg, David B. Hodge
Summary: This study explores the economic impact of an innovative lignocellulose-to-biofuel biorefinery process, which includes a two-stage pretreatment approach that enables high sugar yields and high-quality lignin production. By introducing O-2 as a co-oxidant during pretreatment and reducing raw material inputs, the minimum fuel selling price can be significantly decreased, making the biorefinery process more economically viable. Further research on integrating sugar production with lignin valorization is needed to fully realize the economic potential of this technology.
BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIOFUELS AND BIOPRODUCTS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sandip K. Singh, Kolja Ostendorf, Markus Euring, Kai Zhang
Summary: This paper introduces a novel lignin-based adhesive synthesized through the synergistic reaction between lignin, dimethylformamide, and acrylic acid under a basic environment. The characterized adhesive shows excellent adhesive performance on various substrates and exhibits good physical-mechanical strength under neutral, acidic, or basic media. It is a versatile and universally applicable adhesive.