Pretreatment Effect of Super High Temperature and Pressure Steam Explosion on Utilization of Cellulosic Material

Presently, many investigations are carried out for developing the effective pretreatment and utilization process of cellulosic materials in the World. Effective utilization of not only cellulose but also lignin contained in softwood that is recognized to be too difficult to delignify and convert into fuel and materials was developed using a steam explosion with super high temperature and pressure steam, extraction, and various conversion methods. Furthermore, since this new steam explosion apparatus can produce a higher pressure up to approximately double (70 atm) in comparison with the conversional one (35 atm), the direct conversion of cellulose to glucose was attempted and developed. Here, the hydrolysis of two cellulosic materials, i.e. microcrystalline cellulose powder (MC) and cuprammonium rayon fiber (BEMCOT), to glucose was carried out using this new apparatus at various conditions (50, 55, and 60 atm for a steaming time of 1 and 5 min) aiming at determining the optimum condition. As a result, all of those components (cellulose, water soluble material, and methanol soluble lignin) in the softwood were converted into fuel and useful materials. In addition, the steam explosion at 60 atm and 1 min could convert cellulosic materials into glucose directly in a glucose yield (about 20¬40%).