Secondary sludge is an essential part of biosolids produced through the waste treatment plant of paper mills. Globally paper mills generate around 3.0 million ton of biosolids and in the absence of beneficial applications, the handling and disposal of this residual biomass poses a serious environmental and economic proposition. Secondary paper sludges were investigated in this work for recovery of proteins and their use as wood adhesive. After identifying extracellular polymeric substances as adhesion pre-cursors through analytical techniques, studies were carried out to optimize protein recovery from SS and its comprehensive characterization. A modified physicochemical protocol was developed to recover protein from secondary sludge in substantial quantities. The combined effect of French press and sonication techniques followed by alkali treatment resulted in significant improvement of 44% in the yield of solubilized protein compared to chemical methods. The characterization studies confirmed the presence of common amino acids in recovered sludge protein in significant quantities and heavy metal concentration was reduced after recovery process. The sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis revealed the presence of both low and high molecular weight protein fractions in recovered sludge protein. After establishing the proof-of-concept in the use of recovered sludge protein as wood adhesive, the bonding mechanism of protein adhesives with cellulose substrate was further elucidated in a complementary protein-modification study involving soy protein isolate and its glycinin fractions. The results of this study validated the prevailing bonding theories by proving that surface wetting, protein structure, and type of wood play important role in determining final adhesive strength. Recovered sludge protein was also investigated for its compatibility to formulate hybrid adhesive blends with formaldehyde and bio-based polymers. Apart from chemical cross-linking, the synergy of adhesive blends was evaluated through classical rule-of-mixture. The findings of this study warrants further investigation concerning other potential uses of recovered sludge protein, especially as food supplements and economic implications.

The work described in this thesis focuses on the cleavage of the β-O-4′ bond, which is the most abundant interunit linkage in the lignin polymer. In the first part, three methods based on palladium catalysis have been developed and their applicability has been verified using lignin model compounds. A transfer hydrogenolysis of the β-O-4′ bond using formic acid as a mild hydrogen donor together with a base. An aerobic oxidation of the benzylic alcohol motif in the β-O-4′ linkage to generate a key intermediate in the cleavage reaction was performed. A redox neutral cleavage of the β-O-4′ bond was accomplished in which no stoichiometric reducing or oxidizing agents were added. In the second part of the thesis, a mechanistic study is presented. The corresponding ketone from a dehydrogenation reaction of the benzylic alcohol motif was identified to be the key intermediate. This ketone and its enol tautomer was found to be responsible for the β-O-4′ bond cleavage reaction under the employed reaction conditions. In the final part of this thesis, the methodologies have been applied to native lignin. The depolymerization reaction was combined with organosolv pulping. This approach was successful, and together with cellulose and hemicellulose, propenyl aryls were generated in excellent yields directly from wood. In this transformation, the lignin derived molecules have been reduced by an endogenous hydrogen donor from the wood.

The pulp and paper industry (PPI) is a business that produce large amounts of residues annually. Besides bark, large quantities of sludge are produced from the various parts of the industrial process. The sludge that comes from the biological wastewater purification process is denoted biosludge and is known as a particularly problematic waste product. It is of interest to reduce the amount of sludge from the PPI or to find new ways of handling the produced sludge. The common way to treat the PPI sludge is by incineration in the site’s bark boiler. The material is however difficult to dewater and often does more harm than good in the boilers. Different technologies to try and dewater the sludge further have been investigated previously, one that has recently been noted is hydrothermal treatment. The technology described in this thesis work is called hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) which uses water as a reaction media to turn the sludge into a coal-like material called hydrochar. The hydrochar has a higher heating value than the initial sludge and is more hydrophobic which makes it easier to dewater. This Master’s thesis describes the process technologies of the HTC process and presents some of the recent work done within the area. The properties of different residues from the PPI are presented before the integration of an HTC process on the biorefinery site in Domsjö, Sweden is discussed using previously published articles. A survey concerning sludge from industries within a 500 km range of the Domsjö biorefinery site is made to investigate whether residual streams similar to the ones at the Domsjö site are available in the vicinity. The results show that an HTC process demands energy in the form of steam and/or electricity. A previously made pinch and total site analysis show that the most accessible steam at the Domsjö biorefinery site, that most appliances and process steps uses, is at 7 bars. There are also steam levels of 20 and 32 bar in the area, which is within the range an HTC plant requires. The HTC process water demands further treatment which puts an extra stress on the already existing water purification process. The Domsjö biorefinery site produces 6000 tonnes of biosludge per year. Several HTC companies produce units that normally treat 20000-50000 tonnes of sludge per year, which indicates that additional sludge could be added to reach full capacity. The survey shows that there are similar materials available in the surroundings. It is concluded that further investigations concerning the sludge materials must be made before real implementation consequences can be calculated.

The world population is growing exponentially. At the same time, the availability of natural resources decreases dramatically – an alarming trend which demands for a sustainable use of our resources in a circular economic framework and hence, for the valorization of wastes and by-products. Owing to its high annual abundance, lignocellulosic biomass has a promising potential as renewable resource for the development of high-value products, covering fuels, platform chemicals, and specialty polymers. Besides, lignocelluloses offer an attractive basis for material applications, considering their peculiarity as natural composites and their inherent modifiability. Therefore, targeted chemical modifications have been widely used to exploit this potential and to further increase their spectrum of characteristics and application prospects. The objective of this study was to fabricate lignocellulose-based hydrogels, with the prospect to be used as soil conditioners in agriculture. Considering this application, this study was striving for the development of a simple synthetic pathway that ideally guarantees non-toxic and biodegradable products. Besides, two key factors were involved in the development of the synthetic route and constitute the center of this study: the accessibility of lignocelluloses towards chemical modifications – in view of their inherent recalcitrance – and the envisaged properties of the hydrogel, including high swelling rates and structural stability. To comply with both key factors, three basic processing steps were carried out: (1) feedstock activation by chemical or mechanical pretreatments, (2) introduction of ionic groups to induce swelling properties and (3) gel network formation via chemical crosslinking. Furthermore, to elucidate the behavior of different biomass types, wheat straw and beech sawdust were exemplarily surveyed. In the first step, different chemical (ozonolysis, alkaline and sulfite pulping) or mechanical (short-time ball milling) pretreatment approaches were used to activate the feedstocks by inducing compositional and/or structural alterations. In the second processing step, two modification reactions – carboxymethylation and phosphorylation (with phosphoric acid/molten urea) – were examined with emphasis on their ability to access lignocellulosic matrices and to realize high contents of ionic groups. In the final step, covalently crosslinked gel networks were formed using either citric acid or electron beam irradiation. Both crosslinking approaches were evaluated in detail with respect to yield and properties of the resulting hydrogels. In view of the two key factors proposed for this study – the accessibility of lignocelluloses and the final hydrogel properties – and amongst the approaches examined, the following synthetic pathway delivered the most promising results: ball milling ⟶ carboxymethylation ⟶ citric acid crosslinking. In this process, the promoting effect of ball milling can be attributed to particle size reduction, a breakdown of plant cell structures, and a decline of the cellulose crystallinity. The effectivity of carboxymethylation was particularly based on its alcoholic-alkaline media. Therefore, the uptake of alkali induced a partial disintegration of the lignocellulosic matrix, facilitating both the introduction of ionic groups and high swelling rates of the final gels. Overall, this path delivered promising results for straw-based gels, whereas beech sawdust was hardly accessible.

La réduction de la consommation des carburants fossiles est l’un des enjeux majeurs du XXIème siècle. Le bioéthanol représente une alternative durable à l’essence, mais sa production est limitée puisqu’il est produit à partir de ressources alimentaires. L’éthanol de seconde génération offre une alternative pour relancer son développement. Encore au stade expérimental, il serait produit à partir de biomasse lignocellulosique (bois, paille, plantes annuelles..) et donc ne concurrencerait pas l’alimentation humaine. Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre de production d’éthanol de 2nde génération dans une usine de pâte kraft. Dans ces usines, les hémicelluloses, qui représentent 20 à 30% du bois, ne sont pas valorisées. Cette étude porte sur l’extraction de ces hémicelluloses en amont du procédé et de leur fermentation en éthanol. Elle consiste à la mise au point et l’optimisation d’un procédé global allant du copeau de bois à l’éthanol. / Decreasing the consumption of crude oil derivatives has become one of the main world issues of the 21st century. The only green substitute for gasoline potentially available in large quantities today is bioethanol, but its production has to be limited as it is produced from crops. It is therefore important to develop the production of second generation ethanol, which consists in using lignocellulosic biomass as raw material to avoid to compete with food resources. Second generation ethanol is still at experimental scale nowadays. This thesis deals with the specific case of the production of ethanol from hemicelluloses in a kraft pulp mill. In pulp mills, hemicelluloses, which make up 20 to 30% of the wood, are not value added. It is proposed to extract them from wood prior to the kraft treatment and to ferment them into ethanol. The study talks more specifically of the optimisation of the global process from the woodchip to the ethanol.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:56:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5833.pdf: 3594761 bytes, checksum: 22ca28a1942a7b8b691c4f52f98f2924 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-17 / Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos / The increase in demand for biofuels has driven the development of new technologies such as ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse hydrolysis. Given the importance of Brazil in the ethanol market, the inclusion of technology of second generation ethanol will intensify its production. Energy integration in a sugarcane biorefinery provides important advantages for industrial processes such as better energy management, environmental benefits and increased ethanol production. The last factor is due to lower steam consumption in plant with energy integration, so, less bagasse is needed for cogeneration and a fraction of the surplus can be made available for production of second generation ethanol. In this context, the present study conducted energy integration of a sugarcane biorefinery in order to reduce the consumption of utilities. The technique used was Pinch analysis, an established methodology in the area of energy integration. The biorefinery used in this work consists of process for first and second generation ethanol and electricity production simulated in EMSO software (Environment for Modeling, Simulation, and Optimization). Six different scenarios of biorefinery were evaluated, which differ by pretreatment for bagasse (hydrothermal, diluted acid and steam explosion) and by inclusion or not of pentoses fermentation step. Processes that consider pentoses fermentation step have higher ethanol production when compared to processes that do not make use of pentoses fraction, but steam consumption increases in the same order of magnitude of ethanol production. For the six scenarios evaluated energy integration demonstrated a reduction in energy consumption over 50% when compared to corresponding processes without energy integration and over 30% when compared to process with project integration, as commonly found in Brazilian plants. Besides the economic advantage due to decreased costs of hot and cold utilities, the energy integration provides better energy management, reduction in emission of gases and liquid effluents and increases the availability of bagasse for production of second generation ethanol and/or electricity. / O aumento na demanda por biocombustíveis tem impulsionado o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias como a produção de etanol a partir da hidrólise do bagaço de cana-de-açúcar. Dada a grande importância do Brasil no mercado de etanol, a inserção da tecnologia de etanol de segunda geração potencializará o crescimento da produção. A integração energética em uma biorrefinaria de cana-de-açúcar proporciona importantes vantagens ao processo industrial como a melhor gestão de energia, benefícios ambientais e aumento na produção de etanol. O último fator se deve ao menor consumo de vapor na planta com a integração energética, logo, menos bagaço é necessário para o sistema de cogeração e parte do excedente pode ser disponibilizado para a produção de etanol de segunda geração. Neste contexto, o presente estudo realizou a integração energética de uma biorrefinaria de cana-de-açúcar com o objetivo de reduzir o consumo de utilidades. A técnica utilizada foi a análise Pinch, metodologia consagrada na área de integração energética. A biorrefinaria empregada neste trabalho consiste do processo de produção de etanol de primeira e segunda geração e energia elétrica por simulação computacional realizada no software EMSO (Environment for Modeling, Simulation, and Optimization). Foram avaliados seis cenários diferentes da biorrefinaria, os quais diferem pelo tipo de pré-tratamento para o bagaço (hidrotérmico, ácido diluído e explosão a vapor) e pela consideração ou não da etapa de fermentação das pentoses. Os processos com os pré-tratamentos hidrotérmico, ácido diluído e explosão a vapor com a inclusão da etapa de fermentação das pentoses tem maior produção de etanol quando comparado aos processos que não fazem uso da fração de pentoses, porém o consumo de vapor aumenta na mesma ordem de grandeza da produção de etanol. Para os seis cenários avaliados a aplicação da integração energética demonstrou uma redução no consumo de energia acima de 50% se comparada aos correspondentes processos sem integração energética e acima de 30% se comparada aos processos com integração de projeto, como comumente encontrados nas usinas brasileiras. Além da vantagem econômica, devido à diminuição nos custos de utilidades quentes e frias, a integração energética do processo proporciona melhor gestão de energia, redução na emissão de gases e efluentes líquidos e aumenta a disponibilidade de bagaço para a produção de etanol de segunda geração e/ou energia elétrica.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 pavani_cd_dr_jabo.pdf: 4981240 bytes, checksum: c45fa10351f84e64eb25cd201dcc69c9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-22 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A comunidade mundial busca pela obtenção de biocombustível celulósico, embora ainda seja um grande desafio a desconstrução do arranjo lignocelulósico para obtenção de açúcares livres de forma eficiente e economicamente viável. A fim de superar tais desafios, avanços conquistados pela metagenômica ressaltam sua aplicação como alternativa para compreender e desvendar o grande potencial metabólico presente nos ambientes, buscando encontrar em tais ambientes novas enzimas que atuem de forma eficiente na desconstrução do material lignocelulósico. Neste trabalho utilizou-se, a abordagem metagenômica para caracterização de genes com potencial para degradar biomassa vegetal e também para avaliação da diversidade taxonômica do ambiente ruminal bovino (Cow_1), bem como comparar os dados coletados com outros metagenomas disponíveis. Amostras de conteúdo ruminal de três bovinos machos da raça Nelore foram coletadas para a obtenção da amostra de DNA metagenômico, que posteriormente foi sequenciada pelo sequenciador HiScan SQ (Illumina). Foram obtidas aproximadamente 63 milhões de sequências (Cow _1), 2 x 100 pb. Dentre os 26 filos encontrados o filo Bacteroidetes foi o mais abundante, seguido de Firmicutes e Proteobacteria. Para a anotação gênica foi utilizado os bancos de dados Pfam, GO, KEGG e CAZy. Foram associadas ORFs relacionadas a 86 famílias de Glycoside Hydrolases (GHs), 52 famílias de Carbohydrate-Binding Modules (CBMs), 4 famílias de Auxiliary Activities (AAs), 16 famílias de Carbohydrate Esterases (CEs), 55 famílias de Glycosyl Transferases (GTs), 16 famílias de Polysaccharide Lyases (PLs), 1 família de S-layer homology (SLH) domain e 1 família de cohesina e dockerina, estes genes estão relacionados a formação do complexo enzimático para desconstrução da biomassa vegetal (celulossoma). O metagenoma da cow_1 analisado apresentou maior quantidade de genes relacionados à desconstrução da biomassa vegetal, quando comparados com outros 11 metagenomas. Além disso, os metagenomas dos ambientes lignocelulósicos apresentaram, principalmente, maior abundância de GH3, GH5, GH8, GH10 e GH11, genes que são importantes na degradação da lignocelulose quando comparados com o grupo de metagenomas não lignocelulósico. Os ambientes lignocelulósicos também revelaram maior abundância de sequências de domínios que se ligam na estrutura da celulose (CBM1, CBM10, CBM11, CBM16, CBM3, CBM63, CBM79 e CBM56), domínios que se ligam na estrutura da hemicelulose (CBM35, CBM61, CBM62 e CBM67) e domínios que atuam na estrutura da celulose e xilana (CBM37, CBM44 e CBM59). O metagenoma ruminal mostrou uma grande diversidade de enzimas responsáveis pela degradação da biomassa vegetal, demonstrando seu potencial como fonte de enzimas com potencial biotecnológico. Os metagenomas lignocelulósicos mostraram uma maior abundância de GH3, GH5, GH8, GH10 e GH11, genes que são importantes na degradação de celulose, celobiose, manana, xilana e xilo-oligossacarídeos quando comparados ao grupo não-lignocelulósico. / The world community search to obtain cellulosic biofuel; however the deconstruction of the lignocellulosic arrangement to obtain free sugars in an efficient and economically viable way is still a great challenge. Advances achieved through the metagenomic emphasize its application as an alternative to unfold the great metabolic potential present in the environments in order to overcome such challenges. Thus, a metagenomic approach was used to characterize genes with potential to degrade plant biomass and to evaluate the taxonomic diversity of the Nelore bovine ruminal environment. Samples were collected from three bovine males to obtain the DNA sample, which were sequentially sequenced by the HiScan SQ (Illumina) sequencer. About 63 million sequences, 2 x 100 bp, were obtained. Among the 26 phyla found, Bacteroidetes was the most abundant, followed by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. For gene annotation was used the Pfam, GO, KEGG and CAZy databases. A total of 86 families of Glycoside Hydrolases (GHs), 52 families of Carbohydrate Binding Modules (CBMs), 4 families of Auxiliary Activities (AAs), 16 Esterase Carbohydrate (CEs), 55 GlycosylTransferases (GTs) Polysaccharide Lyases (PLs), 1 S-homology homology (SLH) domain and 1 family of cohesin and dockerine was associated. these genes are related to the formation of the enzymatic complex for deconstruction of plant biomass (cellulosome). The cow_1 metagenome presented a greater number of genes related to deconstruction of plant biomass when compared to other 11 metagenomes. In addition, the metagenomes of the lignocellulosic environments presented, mainly, greater abundance of GH3, GH5, GH8, GH10 and GH11, genes that are important in the degradation of lignocellulose when compared with the group of non-lignocellulosic metagenomes. Focusing on the CBMs, the metagenomes of the lignocellulosic group showed a greater abundance of CBM1, CBM10, CBM11, CBM16, CBM3, CBM63, CBM79 and CBM56 that bind in the cellulose structure; CBM35, CBM61, CBM62 and CBM67 which bind to the hemicellulose structure; CBM37, CBM44 and CBM59 that act on the structure of cellulose and xylan. The ruminal metagenome showed a great diversity of enzymes responsible for the degradation of the plant biomass, demonstrating its potential as a source of enzymes with biotechnological potential. Lignocellulosic metagenomes showed a greater abundance of GH3, GH5, GH8, GH10 and GH11, genes that are important in the degradation of cellulose, cellobiose, mannan, xylan and xylo-oligosaccharides when compared to the non-lignocellulosic group.

O aumento da conscientização ecológica, observado nos últimos anos, levou às indústrias investirem em alguns sistemas de produção tecnologicamente menos impactantes ao meio ambiente, como é o caso das biorrefinarias. No setor de celulose e papel as indústrias podem ser consideradas como biorrefinarias pois produzem bioenergia e bioprodutos a partir da utilização da biomassa, tais como energia elétrica e polpa celulósica. No processo de polpação kraft, obtém-se o licor negro o qual contém compostos orgânicos e inorgânicos provenientes da matéria prima e dos reagentes químicos e aditivos utilizados no processo. Com isso, o licor negro contém além da lignina dissolvida da madeira, alguns subprodutos formados em reações específicas e que podem ser recuperados, destacando-se entre esses o metanol, o qual pode chegar a compor 1% do licor negro. O metanol celulósico extraído na etapa de tratamento de condensado contaminado contém diversos compostos noviços ao meio ambiente e por este motivo o metanol celulósico é utilizado como combustível, sendo incinerado para geração de energia e para redução dos contaminantes a formas menos nocivas ao meio ambiente. Assim, obter o metanol celulósico significa purificá-lo para que possa ser aplicado para outros fins mais nobre, como por exemplo, aplicado como reagente nas indústrias químicas. Com isso, o presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar o potencial de operação de uma unidade de recuperação e de purificação de metanol celulósico acoplado a uma moderna unidade de produção de polpa celulósica. Para isso, foram realizadas visitas técnicas à unidade industrial e efetuada uma ampla revisão bibliográfica do processo de evaporação de licor negro e de formação dos compostos presentes no metanol celulósico de forma a definir as condições e métodos de modelagem e simulação mais apropriados para o desenvolvimento desta dissertação. O estudo foi divido em duas etapas, sendo que a primeira consistiu na utilização do simulador comercial WinGEMS® para construção de um modelo computacional de uma unidade de evaporação de licor negro, o qual mostrou-se adequado para a determinada aplicação através de validações comparativas entre os resultados da simulação com valores reais de operação. Na sequência, desenvolveu-se um modelo computacional para o planejamento de uma unidade de obtenção e purificação de metanol celulósico via software Aspen Plus® sendo acoplado ao modelo anterior. Em síntese, a metodologia aplicada mostrou-se satisfatória para o presente estudo sendo possível simular com propriedade uma unidade de evaporação de licor negro e avaliar o impacto industrial de se acoplar uma unidade de purificação de metanol celulósico a indústria celulósica, no que tange a dimensionamentos de equipamentos, quantificação dos insumos e eficiência de purificação de metanol celulósico. / The increase in ecological awareness observed in recent years has led industries to invest in some production systems technologically less harmful to the environment, such as biorefineries. The industries form the pulp and paper sector, can be considered as biorefineries because they produce bioenergy and bioproducts from the use of biomassa, such as electric power and cellulosic pulp. In the kraft pulping process, the black liquor is obtained, wich contains organic and inorganic compounds from the raw material and from the chemicals reagents and additives used in the process. Black liquor contains, in addition to the dissolved lignin of the wood, some by-products formed in specific reactions and that can be recovered, among them methanol, which can make up 1% of the black liquor. The cellulosic methanol extracted in the treatment stage of contaminated condensate contains several compounds that are harmful to the environment and for this reason the cellulosic methanol is used as fuel, being incinerated for energy generation and for the reduction of contaminants to forms less harmful to the environment. Thus, obtaining the cellulosic methanol means purifying it so that it can be applied to other, more noble purposes, for example, as a reagent in the chemical industry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of a cellulosic methanol recovery and purification unit coupled to a modern cellulosic pulp production unit. Technical visits were made to the industrial unit and a vast bibliographical review of the process of evaporation of black liquor and formation of the compounds present in the cellulosic methanol was carried out in order to define the conditions and the most appropriate modeling and simulation methods for the development of this dissertation. The study was divided in two stages, the first one consisted of the use of the WinGEMS® commercial simulator to construct a computational model of a black liquor evaporation unit, which proved to be suitable for the given application through comparative validations between simulation results with actual operating values. In the sequence, a computational model was developed for the planning of a cellulosic methanol purification and purification unit using Aspen Plus® software being coupled to the previous model. In summary, the applied methodology proved to be satisfactory for the present study, being it possible to properly simulate a black liquor evaporation unit and to evaluate the industrial impact of coupling a cellulosic methanol purification unit to the cellulosic industry, in terms of equipment design, input quantification and cellulosic methanol purification.

A utilização de biomassa vegetal como matéria-prima para a obtenção de produtos químicos exige pré-tratamentos que levem à desestruturação do complexo lignocelulósico, sendo o principal desafio a remoção seletiva e quantitativa da lignina. O bagaço de cana-de-açúcar, como todo material lignocelulósico, é composto por celulose, polioses e lignina, como principais componentes macromoleculares, e vem sendo alvo de pesquisas para produção de bioetanol e produtos com maior valor agregado. A heterogeneidade das ligninas obtidas como subprodutos dos processos de deslignificação é uma das responsáveis pela limitação de possíveis aplicações industriais. Contudo, os recentes desenvolvimentos no etanol celulósico levarão a um aumento da quantidade de lignina disponível numa base global. Estas considerações futuras têm renovado o interesse no isolamento e conversão de lignina em produtos químicos de maior valor agregado. Neste sentido, o isolamento e a caracterização destas ligninas são de fundamental importância. Neste trabalho apresentamos os resultados de estudos de deslignificação do bagaço de cana-de-açúcar pela aplicação de diferentes processos de polpação (processos Soda, Sulfito e Organossolve etanol/água). Estes processos foram avaliados segundo o rendimento do pré-tratamento e seletividade frente aos componentes macromoleculares dos materiais lignocelulósicos. A segunda etapa do trabalho descreve a caracterização das ligninas obtidas nos diferentes processos de polpação, visando posteriores modificações e aplicações como derivados oxidados e na preparação de novos materiais poliméricos termoplásticos e/ou termorrígidos. Os processos produziram diferentes ligninas, sendo essas diferenças observadas na distribuição de massas molares, quantidade de hidroxilas, estabilidade térmica, quantidade de impurezas, etc. A utilização do fracionamento por solventes foi efetivo na obtenção de diferentes massas molares e menores polidispersividades. As condições empregadas nas poliesterificações produziram polímeros com características diferentes, como viscosidade, temperatura de transição vítrea e estabilidade térmica. / The use of plant biomass as a feedstock for the production of chemicals requires pre-treatments which lead to disruption of the lignocellulosic complex, the main challenge being selective and quantitative removal of lignin. Sugarcane bagasse is a lignocellulosic material composed of cellulose, lignin and polyoses as major macromolecular components, and has been the subject of research for bioethanol production and products with higher added value. The heterogeneity of lignins obtained as byproducts of delignification processes is one reason for the limitation of possible industrial applications. However, recent developments in cellulosic ethanol will raise the amount of lignin available on a global basis. These forward-looking statements have renewed interest in the isolation and conversion of lignin in chemical products with higher added value. In this sense, the isolation and characterization of lignins is of fundamental importance. We present the results of studies of delignification of sugarcane bagasse by applying different pulping processes (Soda, Sulfite and organosolv ethanol / water processes). These processes were evaluated according to the performance of pre-treatment and selectivity against macromolecular components of lignocellulosic materials. The second stage of the work describes the characterization of lignins obtained in different pulping processes, aiming to further modifications and applications as oxidized derivatives and the preparation of new polymeric materials thermoplastic and / or thermosetting. Processes produced different lignins, and these differences in distribution of molecular weight, amount of hydroxyls, thermal stability and amount of impurities. The use of solvent fractionation was effective in getting different molar masses and lower polydispersities. The conditions employed in esterification reaction produced polymers with different characteristics, such as viscosity, glass transition temperature and thermal stability.

Abstract Lignocellulosic biomass, such as wood or agricultural residues, is a resource widely available for use in chemical production. In a lignocellulosic feedstock biorefinery, the major parts of biomass, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, are converted to valuable chemicals, materials and energy. Furfural production is one option for the use of the pentose sugars available in hemicellulose, and the process could be integrated with the pulp or cellulosic ethanol industry. In the past, furfural production catalysed by organic acids has been in industrial use, but no detailed studies about the kinetics exist. However, the use of organic acid would prevent the waste problems linked to the mineral acids widely used in the furfural industry. In this thesis, furfural formation in formic acid media was studied. The major part of this work concerns the kinetics of xylose dehydration into furfural and further furfural degradation. Based on the results of this thesis and a literature review, adequate prediction of furfural yield in the conditions used can be achieved using a simple kinetic model, including three reactions: 1) Xylose dehydration into furfural, 2) Furfural degradation, and 3) Xylose degradation to products other than furfural. Moreover, it was shown that the overall order of the furfural degradation reaction, usually modelled as a first order reaction, changes with acidity (H+-concentration). Suggestions for a possible reaction mechanism have been made based on the results. In the last part of this thesis, furfural formation in the presence of kraft lignin (Indulin AT) was considered. Sulphuric acid was used as a baseline for formic acid. It was shown that the lignin has an acid-neutralising capacity, but the higher pH did not explain all the changes in the xylose conversion and the furfural yield. Thus, it is highly likely the lignin inhibits the formation of furfural. Altogether, the effects were smaller in formic acid than in sulphuric acid. This thesis confirms the fact that formic acid is an effective catalyst for furfural production. The focus of the thesis was on the reaction kinetics, and the results can be used in conceptual process design. Moreover, the results emphasise the importance of including acidity explicitly in the kinetic model and monitoring acidity changes when real process streams are used. / Tiivistelmä Lignoselluloosaa, kuten puita tai maanviljelyn jäännösmateriaaleja, on laajasti saatavilla kemiallisen tuotannon raaka-aineeksi. Biojalostamossa lignoselluloosan pääjakeet, selluloosa, hemiselluloosa ja ligniini, muutetaan arvokkaiksi kemikaaleiksi, materiaaleiksi ja energiaksi. Furfuraalin tuotanto on yksi vaihtoehto hemiselluloosan sisältämien pentoosien hyödyntämiseksi. Furfuraaliprosessi voidaan yhdistää sellun tai bioetanolin tuotantoon, ja orgaanisia happoja käyttämällä voitaisiin välttää mineraalihappoihin liittyvät jäteongelmat furfuraalin tuotannossa. Tämän väitöskirjan aiheena on muurahaishappokatalysoitu furfuraalin muodostuminen ksyloosista. Pääpaino on reaktiokinetiikassa, ja työssä on kehitetty kineettinen malli ksyloosin dehydraatiolle furfuraaliksi ja sitä seuraaville furfuraalin sivureaktioille. Tehdyn tutkimuksen ja kirjallisuusselvityksen perusteella yksinkertainen kolmen reaktion malli antaa riittävän tarkan ennustuksen furfuraalisaannoista käytetyissä olosuhteissa. Reaktiot ovat 1) ksyloosin dehydraatio sekä 2) furfuraalin ja 3) ksyloosin reaktiot sivutuotteiksi. Lisäksi huomattiin, että reaktion, jossa syntyy furfuraalin häviämistuotteita, reaktioaste on riippuvainen happamuudesta (H+-konsentraatio). Työssä onkin ehdotettu mahdollisia reaktiomekanismeja furfuraalin sivureaktioille. Työn viimeisessä osassa tutkittiin ligniinin vaikutusta furfuraalin muodos¬tu¬miseen. Vertailukohtana muurahaishapolle käytettiin rikkihappoa. Tutkimuksessa selvisi, että käytetty ligniini, Indulin AT, huononsi furfuraalisaantoa. Suurin osa vaikutuksesta johtui ligniinin neutralointikapasiteetista, jolloin reaktioliuoksen happamuus laski, mutta mahdollisia sivureaktioita ei voitu sulkea pois. Kaiken kaikkiaan vaikutukset olivat pienempiä muurahaishapolla kuin rikkihapolla. Tämä väitöskirjatutkimus osoitti, että muurahaishappo katalysoi furfuraalin tuotantoa tehokkaasti. Tutkimuksessa muodostettiin reaktiokineettinen malli, jota voidaan käyttää käsitteellisessä prosessisuunnittelussa. Tulosten perusteella on tärkeää huomioida reaktioliuoksen happamuus kinetiikassa ja tarkkailla happamuuden muutoksia käytettäessä prosessisivuvirtoja.