Co-production of additive manufacturing composites with solid residue from enzymatic hydrolysis of reed

Abstract The aim of this paper is to find the effect of NaOH pretreatment of reed and compared with other pretreatment's effect, namely p-TsOH (p-toluenesulfonic acid) and H2SO4-SE (steam explosion), in order to evaluate the potential of this pretreatment for ethanol production. The physico-chemical properties of reed before and after pretreatments were evaluated by XRD and FT-IR. Pretreatment with NaOH can significantly reduce lignin content and expose more cellulose to the surface. After NaOH solution autoclaving treatment, the glucose concentration and yield after cellulase hydrolysis reached 14.8 g/L and 78.5%, respectively. For improving the economic feasibility of the reed biorefinery process, EPR (enzyme hydrolysis-processing residue), including RES (enzyme hydrolysis-processing residue treated by NaOH), REP (enzyme hydrolysis-processing residue treated by p-TsOH) and RED (enzyme hydrolysis-processing residue treated by H2SO4-SE), were used as the reinforcing phase for 3D printing material. The results indicated that RES-reinforced composites showed balanced advantages in enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency and mechanical properties. Further evaluation of the effect of the cellulose/lignin mixture on the properties of RPC (residue plastic composites) indicated that the mechanical properties improved as the cellulose component increases, especially in terms of modulus. The composites had a good performance when the proportion of biomass reached 20%. The current work can make full use of reeds in biorefinery processes and make RPC profitable.