Chemical kinetics of hydrogen production using pentoses liquor generated from sugarcane bagasse's hydrothermal pretreatment

• Grant number: 15/18123-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2015
• End date: October 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Zaiat
• Grantee: Liliane Folli Trindade
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The increased demand of ethanol requires that new techniques be developed constantly in order to maximize their production. Nowadays, an approach used to enhance ethanol's production is a better exploitation of lignocellulosic materials such as bagasse. However, in order to apply this technique It is necessary that the bagasse undergoes some treatment beforehand. In this pre-treatment some byproducts are produced such as pentoses liquor. This is generated because of second generation ethanol production and there is still little reliable information about it. Nevertheless, it is known that pentoses liquor has potential environmental impact if handled wrongly. Thus, a major issue for ethanol production using sugarcane is the utilization of the byproducts to improve energy efficiency. An alternative is to use these residues to produce biogas which can be used as energy source inside a biorefinary. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the hydrogen production from pentoses liquor generated by hydrothermal pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse through chemical kinectics in order to develop new technologies that make possible the use of byproducts in ethanol's production and maximize the sugarcane use inside the biorefinaries. (AU)