Thursday, May 2, 2013: 9:45 AM
Grand Ballroom II, Ballroom Level
Brazil is known as the greatest sugarcane ethanol producer, but other lignocellulosics are also evaluated for ethanol production and to the applying of biorefinary concept. In this work, different Brazilian biomass samples were applied aimed to their total conversion and utilization. Banana shale and pseudo-stem, sugarcane bagasse and straw, coffee husks, were pretreated using both acidic and steam processes. Hemicelluloses were removed in this first step (>75%), varying optimized conditions for the different biomasses. After treatment followed or not by delignification, the obtained cellulose (70-90% purity) was evaluated to be converted to biotehanol, carboxymethylcellulose, cellulose acetate, plastic composites and pulps. Being one of the physical barriers to the cellulose conversion, lignin from sugarcane bagasse and straw was isolated and chemical and spectroscopically characterized, showing HGS composition, and its change during treatments was evidenced by advanced microscopic techniques. Lignin was precipitated and evaluated as component of resins and in controlled-released formulations of herbicides. Chemically and enzymatic oxidized lignins were applied to the same formulations and also as component of membranes to be applied for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous effluents. Almost 95% of C-6 and lignin fractions can be used for higher value products bringing economical sustainability to biorefinary. [Acknowledgements due to FAPESP, CNPq, CAPES].