Monday, May 2, 2011
Grand Ballroom C-D, 2nd fl (Sheraton Seattle)
The Canebiofuel project (http://www.canebiofuel.org) is funded by 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission to identify which fraction of the sugarcane biomass is most adequate for an enzyme-based conversion technology to produce second-generation fuel ethanol. In its first work-package, cane bagasse and cane straw (leaves and tops) were harvested from a selected cultivar and chemically characterized using a variety of analytical methods. Cane straw was shown to contain 35.75% of cellulose, 28.69% of hemicelluloses, 17.65% of total lignin, 3.52% of organic extractives, 3.53% of water-soluble extractives, 3.72% of protein and 6.23% of ash, containing 50% of silica as shown by X-ray fluorescence. On the other hand, cane bagasse comprised of 37.96% of cellulose, 25.72% of hemicelluloses, 20.80% of total lignin, 2.85% of organic extractives, 1.22% of water-soluble extractives, 1.13% of protein and 6.53 of ash with 35% of silica. Organic extractives were characterized by GC/MS and four carbohydrate fractions (holocellulose, hemicelluloses A and B and alfa-cellulose) were isolated and characterized using HPLC of acid hydrolysates, GC/MS of alditol acetates and GPC of their tricarbanyl derivatives, revealing important differences in the chemical structure of these cane biomass fractions. The lignin component was also extracted with dioxane:HCl 2mol/L (9:1,v/v) and its characterization by NMR and GC/MS after oxidation with copper oxide have shown that guaiacyl units are much more predominant in cane straw lignin. Other groups functional have also been measured in dioxane lignins, such as aliphatic and aromatic hydroxyl, methoxyl, carbonyl and carboxyl groups. Supported by: EU FP7 Programme, CAPES