Structural Characteristics of Bagasse Furfural Residue and Its Lignin Component. An NMR, Py-GC/MS, and FTIR Study

Commercial furfural, an important platform chemical, is produced from acid hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. The manufacturing processes are inherently inefficient, and so it is necessary to value add to substantial amounts of residue obtained. The structural features of bagasse furfural residue and the lignins extracted from it by three NaOH treatments have been studied in order to understand the transformations that occurred by these treatments. 2D-NMR and Py-GC/MS of the furfural residue revealed that it contains mostly lignin and depolymerized cellulose moieties and the complete absence of xylans as a result of their hydrolysis during the furfural production process. In addition, the analyses revealed that the furfural residue contains 44% of H-type lignin units, in comparison to 11% for bagasse, and most of the lignin interunit linkages present in bagasse have disappeared. The pyrograms show that the furfural residue produced unusually high phenol content, which was attributed to the high levels of H-type units present in this lignin. The proportion of functional groups, particularly total OH aliphatic groups, where significantly lower in the extracted lignins compared to soda lignin obtained by the normal pulping process. The highest severity of the NaOH extraction process reduced the amount of reactive functional groups present in the lignin, though the S/G ratios of 1.1 were independent of the extraction method. The three lignins have high proportions of H-units (around 36-37%), which gives them special properties for different applications, particularly in the production of phenolic resins.