Effect of acetic acid on the pyrolytic sugar yield during fast pyrolysis from several biomasses type

The aim of this work was to improve the levoglucosan production from several agro-industrial wastes such as: sugarcane bagasse, elephant grass, husk coffee, husk rice and husk peanut under during thermochemical biomass conversion (fast pyrolysis). Firstly, the biomasses were subjected to acetic acid treatment as an strategy to improve levoglucosan production (1,6-anhydro-β-D-glucopiranose) in the bio-oil. The biomasses were treated with 10% acetic acid solution for 10 min at 90°C, under constant stirring. Then, the biomass was washed with deionized water until neutral pH and subjected to pyrolysis at different temperatures (350°C to 600°C) using a Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatographic/Mass (Py-GC/MS)1,2. All biomasses had improved the sugar production compared with the control at different pyrolysis temperatures: sugarcane bagasse (9.33 fold at 400°C), elephant grass (7.5 fold at 400°C), husk coffee (9.5 fold at 400°C), husk rice (7.76 fold at 500°C) and husk peanut (8.21 fold at 550°C). Then, the best pyrolysis temperature to attain highest levoglucosan content was different for each type of biomass. Probably, the attained results can be explained by the removal alkali and alkaline earth metals from the biomass. These results are very attractive for technological applications since levoglucosan can be used as unconventional fermentation substrate to biofuels production like bioethanol.