Dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis of red macroalgae Eucheuma denticulatum with microwave-assisted heating for biochar production and sugar recovery

Teh YY 1 , Lee KT 1 , Chen WH 2 , Lin SC 3 , Sheen HK 4 , Tan IS 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan. Electronic address: [email protected]
  • 3 Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
  • 4 Sugar Business Division, Taiwan Sugar Corporation, Tainan 701, Taiwan
  • 5 Department of Petroleum Engineering, Curtin University, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
Bioresour Technol, 2017 Dec;246:20-27.
PMID: 28781203 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.07.101

Abstract

This study aims to produce biochar and sugars from a macroalga Eucheuma denticulatum using dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis along with microwave-assisted heating. The reactions were operated at sulfuric acid concentrations of 0.1 and 0.2M, reaction temperatures of 150-170°C and a heating time of 10min. Compared to the raw macroalga, biochar qualities were improved with increased carbon content and lower ash and moisture contents. The calorific value of the biochar could be intensified up to 45%, and 39% of energy yield was recovered. Apart from producing biochar, the highest total reducing sugars were 51.47g/L (74.84% yield) along with a low by-product 5-HMF of 0.20g/L, when the biomass was treated under the optimum conditions at 160°C with 0.1M H2SO4. Thus, this study demonstrated that macroalgae could be potentially used as biomass feedstock under microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis for the production of biofuel and value-added products.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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