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Formation of Lignin Nanoparticles by Combining Organosolv Pretreatment of Birch Biomass and Homogenization Processes

Valorization of lignocellulosic biomass into a biorefinery scheme requires the use of all biomass components; in this, the lignin fraction is often underutilized. Conversion of lignin to nanoparticles is an attractive solution. Here, we investigated the effect of different lignin isolation processes...

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Autores principales: Matsakas, Leonidas, Karnaouri, Anthi, Cwirzen, Andrzej, Rova, Ulrika, Christakopoulos, Paul
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6100471/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30041408
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules23071822
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author Matsakas, Leonidas
Karnaouri, Anthi
Cwirzen, Andrzej
Rova, Ulrika
Christakopoulos, Paul
author_facet Matsakas, Leonidas
Karnaouri, Anthi
Cwirzen, Andrzej
Rova, Ulrika
Christakopoulos, Paul
author_sort Matsakas, Leonidas
collection PubMed
description Valorization of lignocellulosic biomass into a biorefinery scheme requires the use of all biomass components; in this, the lignin fraction is often underutilized. Conversion of lignin to nanoparticles is an attractive solution. Here, we investigated the effect of different lignin isolation processes and a post-treatment homogenization step on particle formation. Lignin was isolated from birch chips by using two organosolv processes, traditional organosolv (OS) and hybrid organosolv-steam explosion (HOS-SE) at various ethanol contents. For post-treatment, lignin was homogenized at 500 bar using different ethanol:water ratios. Isolation of lignin with OS resulted in unshaped lignin particles, whereas after HOS-SE, lignin micro-particles were formed directly. Addition of an acidic catalyst during HOS-SE had a negative impact on the particle formation, and the optimal ethanol content was 50–60% v/v. Homogenization had a positive effect as it transformed initially unshaped lignin into spherical nanoparticles and reduced the size of the micro-particles isolated by HOS-SE. Ethanol content during homogenization affected the size of the particles, with the optimal results obtained at 75% v/v. We demonstrate that organosolv lignin can be used as an excellent starting material for nanoparticle preparation, with a simple method without the need for extensive chemical modification. It was also demonstrated that tuning of the operational parameters results in nanoparticles of smaller size and with better size homogeneity.
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spelling pubmed-61004712018-11-13 Formation of Lignin Nanoparticles by Combining Organosolv Pretreatment of Birch Biomass and Homogenization Processes Matsakas, Leonidas Karnaouri, Anthi Cwirzen, Andrzej Rova, Ulrika Christakopoulos, Paul Molecules Article Valorization of lignocellulosic biomass into a biorefinery scheme requires the use of all biomass components; in this, the lignin fraction is often underutilized. Conversion of lignin to nanoparticles is an attractive solution. Here, we investigated the effect of different lignin isolation processes and a post-treatment homogenization step on particle formation. Lignin was isolated from birch chips by using two organosolv processes, traditional organosolv (OS) and hybrid organosolv-steam explosion (HOS-SE) at various ethanol contents. For post-treatment, lignin was homogenized at 500 bar using different ethanol:water ratios. Isolation of lignin with OS resulted in unshaped lignin particles, whereas after HOS-SE, lignin micro-particles were formed directly. Addition of an acidic catalyst during HOS-SE had a negative impact on the particle formation, and the optimal ethanol content was 50–60% v/v. Homogenization had a positive effect as it transformed initially unshaped lignin into spherical nanoparticles and reduced the size of the micro-particles isolated by HOS-SE. Ethanol content during homogenization affected the size of the particles, with the optimal results obtained at 75% v/v. We demonstrate that organosolv lignin can be used as an excellent starting material for nanoparticle preparation, with a simple method without the need for extensive chemical modification. It was also demonstrated that tuning of the operational parameters results in nanoparticles of smaller size and with better size homogeneity. MDPI 2018-07-23 /pmc/articles/PMC6100471/ /pubmed/30041408 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules23071822 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Matsakas, Leonidas
Karnaouri, Anthi
Cwirzen, Andrzej
Rova, Ulrika
Christakopoulos, Paul
Formation of Lignin Nanoparticles by Combining Organosolv Pretreatment of Birch Biomass and Homogenization Processes
title Formation of Lignin Nanoparticles by Combining Organosolv Pretreatment of Birch Biomass and Homogenization Processes
title_full Formation of Lignin Nanoparticles by Combining Organosolv Pretreatment of Birch Biomass and Homogenization Processes
title_fullStr Formation of Lignin Nanoparticles by Combining Organosolv Pretreatment of Birch Biomass and Homogenization Processes
title_full_unstemmed Formation of Lignin Nanoparticles by Combining Organosolv Pretreatment of Birch Biomass and Homogenization Processes
title_short Formation of Lignin Nanoparticles by Combining Organosolv Pretreatment of Birch Biomass and Homogenization Processes
title_sort formation of lignin nanoparticles by combining organosolv pretreatment of birch biomass and homogenization processes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6100471/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30041408
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules23071822
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