pretreatment

Evaluating the Hot Water Extraction method on softwoods

June 9, 2016 charles.dillon2

Scheme of biorefinery with the integration of HWE process. Image adapted from Zhu, R. & Yadama, V. (2016). Effects of hot water extraction pretreatment on physicochemical changes of Douglas fir. Biomass and Bioenergy, 90, 78-89. doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2016.03.028 — Scheme of biorefinery with the integration of HWE process. Image adapted from Zhu, R. & Yadama, V. (2016). Effects of hot water extraction pretreatment on physicochemical changes of …more

Sugar yields from two feedstock sources

March 7, 2016 charles.dillon2

Pretreated FS-10 post-harvest forest residuals. NARA image.

Pretreatment is the process that breaks up major wood components (lignin and polysaccharides like hemicelluloses and cellulose) so that enzymes can degrade (hydrolyze) the polysaccharides into simple sugars. Effective pretreatment and hydrolysis are necessary to achieve high sugar quality and yield. The sugars derived from the pretreatment/hydrolysis process can …more

Graduate student poster wins 3rd place at international convention

September 3, 2015 charles.dillon2

Jinxue Jiang won 3rd place recognition for his poster at the Society of Wood Science and Technology 2015 International Conference held June 7-12.

Jinxue is a graduate student working towards his doctoral degree in material science and engineering at Washington State University’s Material Science and Engineering Program. His poster titled Multi-Technique Characterization …more

Wet explosion pretreatment on Douglas-fir forest residuals

July 28, 2015 charles.dillon2

Overall mass balance of the optimal wet explosion run at 190 °C, 7.5% O2 loading, and 30 minutes residence time. Figure from Biswas, R., Teller, P.J. & Ahring, B.K. (2015) Pretreatment of forest residues of Douglas fir by wet explosion for enhanced enzymatic saccharification. Bioresource Technology, 192, 46-53. — Overall mass balance of the optimal wet explosion run at 190 °C, 7.5% O2 loading, …more

Improving simple sugar production from forest residuals

March 31, 2015 charles.dillon2

Flow diagram of experiment in Cheng et al. Biotechnology for Biofuels 2015 8:22

Up to 75% of wood is made of simple sugars. For the NARA project, these simple sugars are the molecules used to make biojet fuel. Even though simple sugars are abundant in wood, making them available for …more

Wood-to-alcohol conversion technology suitable for a pulp mill retrofit

March 3, 2015 charles.dillon2

Schematic of mild bisulfite pretreatment process. Courtesy of Junyong Zhu at USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory.

Building a biorefinery to convert wood residues into chemical products like biojet fuel is expensive. The projected capital investment exceeds $850 million. An alternative, and potentially less costly approach, …more

Dilute acid pretreatment on Douglas-fir residuals

January 8, 2015 charles.dillon2

Douglas-fir forest residuals from SW Oregon

Douglas-fir forest residuals from NW Oregon

Pretreatment is a procedure used to disrupt the chemical bonds that hold cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose (three structural macromolecules in wood) together. The …more

Packaging pretreated wood material for transport

September 29, 2014 charles.dillon2

Unpressed (left) and hot-pressed (right) pretreated lodgepole pine samples. Images taken at USDA Forest Products Laboratory.

There are multiple ways to envision a supply chain that uses forest residuals to make a variety of chemical products. One option would have all of the wood residuals transported to …more

NARA selects a single pretreatment method

June 3, 2014 charles.dillon2

Simplified cartoon of the mild bisulfite pretreatment process

When NARA was initiated in the Fall 2011, it was tasked to evaluate available pretreatment methods and ultimately select one as a NARA-preferred method to incorporate into a wood to bio-jet fuel conversion process. Pretreatment is the process that breaks up the wood fibers so that enzymes can …more

Finding the “sweet spot” in isolating simple sugars from wood

May 13, 2014 charles.dillon2

Rotating reactor used at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory

NARA researcher J.Y. Zhu and his team are trying to solve a problem. They are refining a pretreatment method used to soften the wood and allow the simple sugars to be released. It is the simple sugars that are used to make alcohols, which are …more