Three common pretreatment processes based on dilute sulfuric acid, dilute sodium hydroxide and heat treatment (autoclaving) followed by enzymatic hydrolysis were evaluated to provide comparative performance data. Among them, the best result was obtained when the pretreatment of rice husk was carried out with 3% of NaOH solution. The pretreatment of rice husk with NaOH substantially increased th...

Furfural derived from pentose sugars is one of the key reactive intermediates for production of hydrocarbons from cellulosic biomass for use as drop-in fuels. Simultaneous extraction into a solvent immiscible in water can substantially enhance furfural yields by removing it from the aqueous environment where the yield would otherwise be limited by its rapid degradation to chars and other carbon...

Glucose yield from the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose was investigated as a function of cellulase enzyme loading (7-36 FPU/g cellulose) and solids concentration (7%-18% total solids) for up to 72 h on dilute sulfuric-acid pretreated Douglas Fir. The saccharification was performed on whole hydrolysate with no separation or washing of the solids. Enzyme loading had a significant effect on gluc...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), also called cellulose nanowhiskers, cellulose nanorods, or nanocrystalline cellulose, were prepared from Phyllostachys heterocycla using a commercial cellulase for hydrolysis. The enzymatic hydrolysis process and application performance as well as the biocompatibility of the CNCs were investigated. Here, the cellulase hydrolysis conditions were optimized at a cell...

The anticoagulant activity of surfaces decorated with cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) prepared via sulfuric acid hydrolysis, is explored. Such surfaces bear a high amount of negatively charged sulfate groups, which mimic the naturally occurring anticoagulant heparin in terms of charge density. It is demonstrated that CNC decorated surfaces significantly enhance the coagulation times of blood plas...

Natural fibers such as kenaf have been studied extensively as a reinforcing phase and received major attention recently due to their renewability, biodegradability, and high strength comparable to other synthetic fibers. In this study, nano-crystalline cellulose (NCC) was produced from kenaf core wood using the acid hydrolysis method. Kenaf core was alkali treated with a 4 wt% of sodium hydroxi...

Agricultural residues such as corn fiber, rice hulls and wheat straw can be used as abundant low-cost feedstock for production of fuel ethanol. However, the cost of cellulase enzymes to saccharify cellulose to glucose is a major hindrance. As an alternative, a novel process to obtain industrially important cellulose acetate from these by-products after removing hemicellulosic sugars was develop...

Cellulase and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were added to Avicel cellulose and solids containing 56% cellulose and 28% lignin from dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment of corn stover. Little BSA was adsorbed on Avicel cellulose, while pretreated corn stover solids adsorbed considerable amounts of this protein. On the other hand, cellulase was highly adsorbed on both substrates. Adding a 1% concentrat...

This study demonstrated the potential of simultaneously recovering cellulosic solid residues (CSR) and producing cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) by strong sulfuric acid hydrolysis to minimize cellulose loss to near zero. A set of slightly milder acid hydrolysis conditions than that considered as "optimal" were used to significantly minimize the degradation of cellulose into soluble sugars that ca...