Cellulose Isolation from Agri-Food Residues

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 10736

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department for Sustainable Food Process (DiSTAS), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29100 Piacenza, Italy
Interests: antioxidants; bioactives; biotechnology; encapsulation; enzymes; extraction; food engineering; food waste; functional; fruit; rheology; shelf-life; valorisation; autohydrolysis; biorefinery; bioplastics; cellulose; coatings; food processing; lignocellulosic fractionation
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E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department for Sustainable Food Process (DiSTAS), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29100 Piacenza, Italy
Interests: agri-food residues; biomass pretreatment; biorefinery; energy and economic optimization; food process modelling and simulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cellulose recovery processes from agri-food residues are gaining more attention nowadays due to the potential applications of cellulose in the polymer, textile, pharmaceutical, biomedical, and food sectors. Some of the isolation processes currently under extensive research and development are based on chemical–physical, catalytic, or enzymatic treatments. Proper characterization of the starting residue, operating temperature and pressure, energy consumptions, equipment costs, side-stream generation, and chemical and functional characterization of the obtained cellulose are some of the key factors for successful industrial scale implementation of cellulose isolation strategies while considering an environmentally friendly perspective. The development of suitable mathematical models can help in understanding the most important features of such processes and identify the optimal conditions for maximum economic yield. In this Special Issue, we invite submissions exploring cutting-edge research and recent advances in the fields of cellulose recovery and isolation processes from agri-food residues. Experimental studies as well as comprehensive review and survey papers are welcome, as well as studies concerning the development and validation of process mathematical models.

Prof. Dr. Giorgia Spigno
Dr. Andrea Bassani
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • agri-food residues
  • biomass pretreatment
  • biomass characterization
  • cellulose
  • fractionation
  • hydrolysis
  • lignocellulosic fractionation
  • modelling
  • nanocellulose
  • process simulation

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 2341 KiB  
Article
Separation of Lignocellulose and Preparation of Xylose from Miscanthus lutarioriparius with a Formic Acid Method
by Jia Ouyang, Wen-Qiang He, Qing-Ming Li, Liang Chen, Xiao-Fen Wu and Xiao-Jun Su
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1432; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031432 - 28 Jan 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2686
Abstract
Efficient component separation technology is one of the key ways to improve the efficiency of lignocellulose bioconversion. In this study, the formic acid method was used to separate the components of lignocellulose from Miscanthus lutarioriparius, hemicellulose was degraded into xylose simultaneously, and [...] Read more.
Efficient component separation technology is one of the key ways to improve the efficiency of lignocellulose bioconversion. In this study, the formic acid method was used to separate the components of lignocellulose from Miscanthus lutarioriparius, hemicellulose was degraded into xylose simultaneously, and the composition and structure of the separated components were analyzed. Then, xylose was further purified with activated carbon for decolorization and resins for the removal of formic acid and other monosaccharide impurities. The results showed that formic acid could effectively separate the cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin of lignocellulose with recoveries of 91.7%, 80.2%, and 85.3%, respectively. Structural analyses revealed that the cellulose and lignin underwent different degrees of formylation during the formic acid treatment, yet their primary structures remained intact, and the crystallinity of cellulose increased significantly. By GC–MS and HPLC analysis, xylose was the main component of hemicellulose extract, accounting for 74.90%. The activated carbon treatment decolorized the xylose extract more than 93.66% and gave a xylose recovery of 88.58%. D301 resin could effectively remove more than 99% of the formic acid residue in xylose. The xylose extract was further purified by removing arabinose and other monosaccharide impurities with Dowex 50wx4 resin, which increased the purity to 95%. The results demonstrated that the formic acid method is an effective method to separate lignocellulose and prepare xylose, and it has broad application prospects in the field of bio-refining lignocellulose resources such as Miscanthus lutarioriparius Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellulose Isolation from Agri-Food Residues)
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16 pages, 1035 KiB  
Article
Implementation of Auto-Hydrolysis Process for the Recovery of Antioxidants and Cellulose from Wheat Straw
by Andrea Bassani, Cecilia Fiorentini, Vellingiri Vadivel, Alessandro Moncalvo and Giorgia Spigno
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(17), 6112; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10176112 - 03 Sep 2020
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2974
Abstract
Wheat straw is an easily affordable, cost-effective and natural source of antioxidants and cellulose, but its full potential is not yet utilized. In the present investigation, an auto-hydrolytic process was applied to recover both antioxidant phenolic compounds and cellulose from wheat straw. Two [...] Read more.
Wheat straw is an easily affordable, cost-effective and natural source of antioxidants and cellulose, but its full potential is not yet utilized. In the present investigation, an auto-hydrolytic process was applied to recover both antioxidant phenolic compounds and cellulose from wheat straw. Two three-step acid/alkaline fractionation processes were applied differing for the first step: a conventional mild acid hydrolysis or an auto-hydrolysis. The liquors from the first step were analyzed for the recovery of antioxidants, while the final residues from the whole process were analyzed for cellulose yield and purity. The auto-hydrolysis process led to a higher yield in antioxidants but also in sugars (glucose and xylose) and sugar degradation products (5-HMF, 5-MF, furfural) than the acid hydrolysis process. The overall cellulose recovery (about 45% g/100 gcellulose wheat straw dm) and purity was comparable in the two processes; therefore, the auto-hydrolysis-based process could be recommended as a potentially more environmentally friendly process to recover antioxidants and cellulose from wheat straw for different applications. Finally, a first study on the optimization of hydrolysis step was provided from the point of view of improving the cellulose yield, monitoring the sugars release during both the acid hydrolysis and the auto-hydrolysis process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellulose Isolation from Agri-Food Residues)
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Review

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36 pages, 6608 KiB  
Review
Cellulose Recovery from Agri-Food Residues by Effective Cavitational Treatments
by Federico Verdini, Emanuela Calcio Gaudino, Giorgio Grillo, Silvia Tabasso and Giancarlo Cravotto
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(10), 4693; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11104693 - 20 May 2021
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4238
Abstract
Residual biomass from agri-food production chain and forestry are available in huge amounts for further valorisation processes. Delignification is usually the crucial step in the production of biofuels by fermentation as well as in the conversion of cellulose into high added-value compounds. High-intensity [...] Read more.
Residual biomass from agri-food production chain and forestry are available in huge amounts for further valorisation processes. Delignification is usually the crucial step in the production of biofuels by fermentation as well as in the conversion of cellulose into high added-value compounds. High-intensity ultrasound (US) and hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) have been widely exploited as effective pretreatment techniques for biomass conversion and in particular for cellulose recovery. Due to their peculiar mechanisms, cavitational treatments promote an effective lignocellulosic matrix dismantling with delignification at low temperature (35–50 °C). Cavitation also promotes cellulose decrystallization due to a partial depolymerization. The aim of this review is to highlight recent advances in US and HC-assisted delignification and further cellulose recovery and valorisation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellulose Isolation from Agri-Food Residues)
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