Fractionation of willow bark for combined production of extracts and fiber bundles
Loading...
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Chemical Technology |
Doctoral thesis (article-based)
| Defence date: 2018-12-03
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Author
Date
2018
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
57 + app. 95
Series
Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 221/2018
Abstract
This study investigates the coproduction of willow bark sclerenchyma fiber bundles and extracts in order to increase the potential added-value from short-rotation willow biomass. Willow is a fast growing biomass source that is grown mainly for heat and power generation, especially in the Northern Hemisphere on marginal lands. On afforested peatland, willow can be grown to prevent erosion and to remove excess nutrients from the soil. A few sporadic studies investigating useful bioactive phenolic compounds from willow bark have been conducted, but burning bark for energy purposes is prevalent. The novel introduced biorefinery concept aims to use 1) the bark fraction for the production of fibers and extractives and 2) the wood fraction is hydrolyzed for sugars and lignin recovered for chemical industry. The morphology and chemical constitution of the inner bark is characterized as the first step towards complete willow valorization. The distinguishing features of inner bark are its high ash and extractive content and bundles of relatively long and thick-walled sclerenchyma fibers. We discovered that picein, triandrin and catechin could be extracted at an approximate 14% overall yield rate from bark by hot water (20 min at 80 ºC). 2D–HSQC NMR spectroscopy and wet chemical analyses demonstrate that guaiacyl is the predominant unit in bark lignin over syringyl and p-hydroxyphenyl. Therefore, the bark lignin structure is the key for developing a novel strategy for separating fiber bundles by judiciously using a mild alkali treatment, followed by fabrication of a composite from the fiber bundle layer and polylactic acid (PLA). Effective routes for separating such fiber bundles require a much lower amount of energy and chemicals than does the separation of individual fibers by conventional methods. Moreover, the fiber bundles exhibited the best compatibility (fiber surface lignin up to 40%) with the matrix PLA compared to other reinforcements. This strategy expands novel composite applications of bark fiber bundles, indicating considerable promise for utilizing this otherwise burned bark material. Additionally, bark lignocellulose nanofibrils exhibit higher hydrophobic properties, and its films display higher tensile strength in comparison with wood, which again provides another example of the superior properties of the bark compared to the wood. This thesis carried out a general, integrative study regarding the morphological structural and chemical characterization of bark and wood, their fractionation, as well as a review of the literature in order to achieve full utilization of fibers and extractives from bark. Gaps in our current knowledge and potentially interesting research approaches are identified and discussed.Description
Supervising professor
Vuorinen, Tapani, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, FinlandThesis advisor
Vuorinen, Tapani, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, FinlandKeywords
sclerenchyma fiber bundle, picein, triandrin, (+)-catechin, fructose, willow bark, 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural, HSQC, enzyme lignin, cell wall, nanocellulose, p-Toluenesulfonic acid, suberin, Lignin nanoparticle, alkali charge, fiber surface lignin, compatibility
Other note
Parts
-
[Publication 1]: Jinze Dou, Leonardo Galvis, Ulla Holopainen-Mantila, Mehedi Reza, Tarja Tamminen, and Tapani Vuorinen. (2016) Morphology and Overall Chemical Characterization of Willow (Salix sp.) Inner Bark and Wood: Toward Controlled Deconstruction of Willow Biomass. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 4 (7), 3871–3876.
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b00641 View at publisher
-
[Publication 2]: Jinze Dou, Wenyang Xu, Jari J. Koivisto, Justin K. Mobley, Dharshana Padmakshan, Martin Kögler, Chunlin Xu, Stefan Willför, John Ralph, and Tapani Vuorinen. (2018) Characteristics of Hot Water Extracts from the Bark of Cultivated Willow (Salix sp.). ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 6 (4), 5566–5573.
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b00498 View at publisher
-
[Publication 3]: Jinze Dou, Hoon Kim, Yanding Li, Dharshana Padmakshan, Fengxia Yue, John Ralph and Tapani Vuorinen. (2018) Structural Characterization of Lignins from Willow Bark and Wood. J. Agric. Food Chem. 66 (28), 7294–7300.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.8b02014 View at publisher
- [Publication 4]: Jinze Dou, Jouni Paltakari, Leena-Sisko Johansson and Tapani Vuorinen. (2018) Novel insight into the separation and composite utilization of sclerenchyma fiber bundles of willow bark. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. Submitted.
- [Publication 5]: Jinze Dou, Huiyang Bian, Daniel J. Yelle, Mariko Ago, Krista Vajanto, Tapani Vuorinen and Junyong (J.Y.) Zhu. (2018) Lignin containing cellulose nanofibril production from willow bark at 80 ºC using a highly recyclable acid hydrotrope. Ind. Crops Prod. Submitted.
