title: Kinetic modeling of xylan hydrolysis in co- and countercurrent liquid hot water flow-through pretreatments.
abstract: A kinetic model for xylan hydrolysis in liquid hot water flow-through pretreatment was developed. The model utilized a declining xylan hydrolysis rate constant with increasing conversion in combination with direct xylooligomer degradation. The model was able to describe experimental results from flow-through pretreatment of corn stover and triticale straw at various pretreatment temperatures, and was applied to predict and compare the performance of xylan hydrolysis in co- and countercurrent flow-through pretreatments. Countercurrent pretreatment resulted in higher concentration of solubilized xylan and 3-6-fold less degradation. Maintaining a temperature gradient along the reactor axis reduced degradation compared to a fixed reactor temperature. Biomass bed shrinking during pretreatment increased the final concentration of solubilized xylan by about 10%. Model predictions were sensitive to the packing density of biomass bed. The model is useful for evaluating biomass flow-through pretreatments and has utility in design of flow-through reactors.
authors.affiliation: Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, 8000 Cummings Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, United States.
authors.forename: Xiongjun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lynd
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D014990:Xylans / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014990:Xylans