Non-thermal plasma as an innovative pretreatment technology in delignification of brewery by-product

2021 
Abstract Non-thermal plasma was applied as an innovative pretreatment for the delignification of brewery by-products. The influence of different plasma gases (pure air or air/argon), time and solids concentration (7.5, 10 and 12.5%) was evaluated during the delignification tests. The levels of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin were monitored before and after treatment. The reduction in lignin content was approximately 50% after 5 min using pure air in all tested solids concentrations. Longer pretreatment times (60 min) influenced the removal of hemicellulose (50%) and cellulose (12%), also indicated by morphological changes. After 5 and 60 min of plasma application, the physical-chemical characteristics showed minor changes in its chemical composition, mainly affected by the losses of lignocellulosic compounds. Non-thermal plasma is considered an attractive alternative for the pretreatment of brewery by-products, resulting mainly in removing lignin, assisting in subsequent processes such as the enzymatic hydrolysis of the spent solid.
    • Correction
    • Source
    • Cite
    • Save
    • Machine Reading By IdeaReader
    46
    References
    0
    Citations
    NaN
    KQI
    []