Dual Utilization of Lignocellulose Biomass and Glycerol Waste to Produce Fermentable Levoglucosan via Fast Pyrolysis

Glycerol waste was combined with microwave to pretreat lignocellulose before fast pyrolysis. After pretreatment, most alkali and alkaline earth metals (87.9%) and lignin (52.6%) were removed, and a higher crystallinity was obtained. Comparatively, glycerol waste combined with microwave was proven to be more efficient than glycerol with conventional heating. During fast pyrolysis, higher content of levoglucosan in glycerol waste–pretreated products (27.5%) was obtained, compared with those pretreated by pure glycerol (18.8%) and untreated samples (5.8%). Production of fermentative toxic aldehyde and phenol by-products was also inhibited after glycerol waste treatment. Following mechanistic study had validated that microwave in glycerol waste solvent could effectively ameliorate structure and components of lignocellulose while selectively removing lignin. Notably, under the optimal condition, the levoglucosan content in pyrolytic products was enhanced significantly from 5.8% to 32.9%. In short, this study provided an archetype to dually utilize waste resources for ameliorating lignocellulose structure and precisely manipulating complex fast pyrolysis.