Novel oil-based epoxy acrylate (EA)-like prepolymers were synthesized via the ring-opening reaction of epoxidized plant oils with a new unsaturated carboxyl acid precursor (MAAMA) synthesized by reacting maleic anhydride (MA) with methallyl alcohol (MAA). Since the employed epoxidized oils including epoxidized soybean oil (ESO), epoxidized rubber seed oil (ERSO), and epoxidized wilsoniana seed oil (EWSO) possessed epoxy values of 7.34–4.38%, the obtained epoxy acrylate (EA)-like prepolymers (MMESO, MMERSO, and MMEWSO) indicated a C=C functionality of 7.81–4.40 per triglyceride. Furthermore, effects of the C=C functionality and the addition of hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) diluent on the ultimate properties of the resulting UV-cured EA-like materials were investigated and compared with those of commercially available acrylated ESO (AESO) resins. As the C=C functionality increased, the storage modulus at 25 °C (E’25), glass transition temperature (Tg), 5% weight–loss temperature (T5), tensile strength and modulus (σ and E), and hardness of the coating for both the pure EA and EA/HEMA resins increased significantly as well. These properties indicated similar trends when comparing the EA materials with 30% of HEMA with those pure EA materials. Specially, although ERSO had a clearly lower epoxy value that ESO, both the UV-cured pure MMERSO and MMERSO/HEMA materials showed much better E’25, Tg, σ, and E than their AESO counterparts, indicating that the MAAMA modification of epoxidized plant oils was much more effective than the modification of acrylic acid to achieve high-performance oil-based epoxy acrylate resins.

Background Pretreatment is the key step for utilizing lignocellulosic biomass, which can extract cellulose from lignin and disrupt its recalcitrant crystalline structure to allow much more effective enzymatic hydrolysis; and organic acids pretreatment with dual benefic for generating xylooligosaccharides and boosting enzymatic hydrolysis has been widely used in adding values to lignocellulose materials. In this work, furoic acid, a novel recyclable organic acid as catalyst, was employed to pretreat sugarcane bagasse to recover the xylooligosaccharides fraction from hemicellulose and boost the subsequent cellulose saccharification. Results The FA-assisted hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse using 3% furoic acid at 170 °C for 15 min resulted in the highest xylooligosaccharides yield of 45.6%; subsequently, 83.1 g/L of glucose was harvested by a fed-batch operation with a solid loading of 15%. Overall, a total of 120 g of xylooligosaccharides and 335 g glucose could be collected from 1000 g sugarcane bagasse starting from the furoic acid pretreatment. Furthermore, furoic acid can be easily recovered by cooling crystallization. Conclusion This work put forward a novel furoic acid pretreatment method to convert sugarcane bagasse into xylooligosaccharides and glucose, which provides a strategy that the sugar and nutraceutical industries can be used to reduce the production cost. The developed process showed that the yields of xylooligosaccharides and byproducts were controllable by shortening the reaction time; meanwhile, the recyclability of furoic acid also can potentially reduce the pretreatment cost and potentially replace the traditional mineral acids pretreatment.

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Starch is one of the most abundant resources on earth and is suited to serve as a cost-effective feedstock for biological hydrogen production. However, producing hydrogen from direct fermentation of starch is usually inefficient, as the starch hydrolysis is often the rate-limiting step. Therefore, in the present work, enzymatic starch hydrolysis was conducted to enhance the feasibility of using starch feedstock for H 2 production. The amylase (with a molecular weight of ca. 112 kDa) used for starch hydrolysis was produced from a recombinant E. coli harboring an amylase gene originating from Caldimonas taiwanensis On1. Using statistical experimental design, the optimal pH and temperature for starch hydrolysis with the recombinant amylase was pH 6.86 and 52.4°C, respectively, at an initial starch concentration of 7 g/L. The hydrolyzed products contained mainly glucose, maltotriose, and maltotetrose, while a tiny amount of maltose was also detected. The enzymatically hydrolyzed products of soluble starch and cassava starch were used as the substrate for dark hydrogen fermentation using Clostridium butyricum CGS2 and Clostridium pasteurianum CH4. The highest H 2 production rate (V H 2 ) and yield (Y H 2 ) of C. butyricum CGS2 was 124.0 mL/h/L and 6.32 mmol H 2 /g COD, respectively, both obtained with the hydrolysate of cassava starch. The best H 2 production rate (63.0 mL/h/L) of C. pasteurianum CH4 occurred when using hydrolyzed cassava starch as the substrate, whereas the highest yield (9.95 mmol H 2 /g COD) was obtained with the hydrolyzed soluble starch.

Background: Pretreatment is the key step for utilizing lignocellulosic biomass, which can extract cellulose from lignin and disrupt its recalcitrant crystalline structure to allow much more effective enzymatic hydrolysis; and organic acids pretreatment with dual benefic for generating xylooligosaccharides and boosting enzymatic hydrolysis has been widely used in adding values to lignocellulose materials. In this work, furoic acid, a novel recyclable organic acid as catalyst, was employed to pretreat sugarcane bagasse to recover the xylooligosaccharides fraction from hemicellulose and boost the subsequent cellulose saccharification. Results: The FA-assisted hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse using 3% furoic acid at 170 oC for 15 min resulted in the highest xylooligosaccharides yield of 45.6%; subsequently, 83.1 g/L of glucose was harvested by a fed-batch operation with a solid loading of 15%. Overall, a total of 120 g of xylooligosaccharides and 335 g glucose could be collected from 1000 g sugarcane bagasse starting from the furoic acid pretreatment. Furthermore, furoic acid can be easily recovered by cooling crystallization.Conclusion: This work put forward a novel furoic acid pretreatment method to convert sugarcane bagasse into xylooligosaccharides and glucose, which provides a strategy that the sugar and nutraceutical industries can be used to reduce the production cost. The developed process showed that the yields of xylooligosaccharides and byproducts were controllable by shortening the reaction time; meanwhile, the recyclability of furoic acid also can potentially reduce the pretreatment cost and potentially replace the traditional mineral acids pretreatment.