Degree Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2012
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
First Advisor
Chenxu Yu
Second Advisor
Tae Hyun Kim
Abstract
To improve the chemical pretreatment efficiency of bio-ethanol, a photocatalyst assisted alkaline approach was developed to remove lignin structure and increase the amount of fermentable component in lignocellulosic biomass (corn stover). Two kinds of base tested in this study were aqueous ammonia and sodium hydroxide, respectively. Due to the high volatility, a special experimental design was used in ammonia pretreatment, which limited the UV penetration, hence only moderate improvement on enzymatic digestibility of the treated biomass could be obtained through the photocatalyst-assisted photodegradation. Meanwhile, testing with sodium hydroxide yielded elevated delignification result and confirmed that the UV penetration played an essential role in photocatalytic treatment.
Copyright Owner
Chao Wang
Copyright Date
2012
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
File Size
69 pages
Recommended Citation
Wang, Chao, "Photonanocatalyst Aided Alkaline Pretreatment and Raman Spectroscopic Characterization of Corn Stover Biomass" (2012). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 12711.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/12711
