Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

Introduction
Softwood bark: Softwood bark is traditionally combusted for energy. However, improved energy efficiency and recent increases in pulp mill capacities in the Nordic countries highlight softwood bark as a low-cost resource for conversion into higher value, renewable end-products.
Carbocation scavangers: Wayman and Lora (1978) discovered that some aromatic compounds, especially 2-Naphthol, prevented the self-condensation of lignin under acidic conditions. Later, Pielhop et al (2015) showed that carbocation scavenger addition to pretreatment could benefit the enzymatic digestibility of pretreated substrates.
Research objective: In commercially scalable pretreatment equipment and at industrially relevant steam explosion settings, systematically explore the effects of treatment temperature and 2-Naphtol addition on the carbohydrate composition of softwood bark.