Microwave and microwave-chemical pretreatment application for agricultural waste

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThis study aimed to investigate the effect of microwave (MW) and microwave-chemical (MWC) pretreatment on barley straw and to identify the acidic, basic, or oxidative chemicals that provide the highest sugar conversion for subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. The MW and MWC processes were applied as a pretreatment step before fermentation. MW radiation at 200 and 300 W and MW radiation plus a chemical (H 2 SO 4 or NaOH or H 2 O 2 ) as catalyst were applied, and total sugar, total phenol, and Klason and acid-soluble lignin were measured. Although the MWC pretreatment produced a higher total sugar concentration than the MW pretreatment, the addition of an NaOH solution produced the best results in terms of all parameters. Fourier transform infrared analysis was also performed to observe the deterioration of molecular structures after the application of MW and MWC.

Inactivation kinetics and thermodynamic properties of polygalacturonase produced by Aspergillus awamori CICC 2040 on pretreated orange and plantain peels

“…In recent times, pretreatment of residues involving two or more methods is becoming popular due to the synergistic effect of each of the methods (16). In particular, microwave-assisted alkaline pretreatment of residues is considered highly efficient due to the high degradation of lignin fibres by microwave radiation in the presence of alkali (17,18). Also, pretreatment that involves a combination of microwave radiation and alkali is attributed to high solids recovery (18).…”