Paulownia as raw material for solid biofuel and cellulose pulp

Abstract

The influence of the process conditions of pulping of a trihybrid clone Paulownia on pulp properties for the soda anthraquinone process has been investigated in a semi-pilot scale. A composite central experimental design and a multiple regression were used to find the relationship between independent process variables and pulp properties. The ash content (0.89%) is lower and cellulose content (44.0%) is higher than those found for other species of Pauwlonia and other energetic crops. The elemental composition has a low content in S and N (0.21%) in comparation with poplar or willow. With a gross heating value of 20335 J/g, Paulownia is a suitable feedstock for use as solid biofuel. This is somewhat higher than those for hardwood, slightly higher than those for Pinus pinaster and softwood, and much higher than those for residues of food plants and agricultural crops. This supports the use of the genus Paulownia as an energy crop. The soda-anthraquinone pulping could be and adequate process for Paulownia. Fibre length (0.97 mm) is similar to hardwoods and suitable physical characteristics of paper sheets (tensile index) and acceptable chemical characteristics and yield pulping could be obtained by operating at lowintermediate temperature (163-171ºC) and alkali concentration (20%) and high or medium values for operation time (120-150 min). The pulp obtained at these conditions has suitable chemical (pulp) and physical (paper sheets) characteristics: yield (47.0%), ethanol-benzene extractives (2.22%), holocellulose contents (96.0%), α-cellulose contents (75.8%), lignin contents (8.28%), Shopper Riegler degree (23.2 ºSR), and tensile index (36.0) kN m/kg. HighlightsThe influences of the process conditions of pulping of a trihybrid clone Paulownia on pulp properties for the soda anthraquinone process have been investigated in a semi-pilot scale.The soda-anthraquinone pulping could be and adequate process for trihybrid clone Paulownia is similar to hardwoods and suitable physical characteristics of paper sheets.Trihybrid clone Paulownia is a suitable feedstock for use as solid biofuel.

Improving sustainability in the remediation of contaminated soils by the use of compost and energy valorization by Paulownia fortunei

“…In agreement with the gasification results, the energetic values of the biomass obtained in our study (ranging 16.7 to 18.4 MJ kg -1 ) were slightly lower than those found in other studies with Paulownia plants grown in different plantations across Spain (18.3-20.3 MJ kg -1 ; López et al, 2012;Villanueva et al, 2011), but improved when organic materials were applied to the soils (Table 5). Although woody biomass has a higher lignin and cellulose content than herbaceous biomass, leading to higher calorific value, the gross calorific values of the biomass obtained in this study were similar to those found in food plant residues and straw (16.7-17.8 MJ kg -1 , Naik et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2011), and lower than the typical calorific values reported for softwood and hardwood (20 MJ kg -1 and 18 MJ kg -1 , respectively; López et al, 2011;Telmo et al, 2010).…”

“…Species in the Paulownia genus are highly adaptive to a wide range of climate and soil conditions (Yadav et al, 2013), and their use has been proposed for the afforestation of semi-arid areas, given their relatively good performance even under low water irrigation regimens (García-Morote et al, 2014). As Paulownia biomass is characterized by a high cellulose content and a relatively high gross heating value, its use as an energy crop in Europe and North America has been promoted in the last decade (López et al, 2012). However, because certain amounts of trace elements may be translocated from the soil into the aboveground biomass, it is important to analyze the patterns of trace element accumulation in this species, and to assess whether the accumulation of these elements can affect the quality of the biomass for biofuel production or the processes of thermochemical or biochemical conversion of the lignocellulosic raw materials.…”

Effects of Ageing on the Color and Surface Chemistry of Paulownia Wood (P. elongata) from Fast Growing Crops

“…Improving Paulownia's natural durability and impregnability is also an interesting recent research topic (Candan and Korkut 2013;Boeva et al 2015;Hamid et al 2015). Additionally, as a fast growing wood species, Paulownia is a candidate for bioenergy production (Lopez et al 2012;Yadav et al 2013;Yavorov et al 2015).…”

Optimization of furfural production by acid hydrolysis of Eucalyptus globulus in two stages

“…In two-stage technology, a dissolution and partial depolymerization of hemicelluloses occur, followed by dehydration in 5 furfural. In this manner, the residual lignocelluloses is almost unaltered and can be used for conversion to ethanol, glucose [14] or pulp and paper [3,4,27,28] and the process has a higher furfural yield [26].…”

“…To remedy this situation, among the potential industrial biorefineries, the lignocellulose biorefinery will most probably be pushed through with the greatest success, because the raw material situation is optimal and conversion products have a good position in the traditional petrochemical as well as in the future bio-based product market [2][3][4].…”