Japanese Researchers Develop New Pretreatment Method

A team of researchers from Japan's Tohoku University has developed a new method for the pretreatment of biomass, which could lead to more efficient production of biofuels. Pretreating biomass improves the formation of sugars that are used to develop biofuels. However, current pretreatment processes are not always efficient.

The new method involves crushing the leaves and stalks of maize plants and placing the resulting powder in a solution of sodium percarbonate (SP). The product is then passed through a hydrodynamic (HD) cavitation system. As the product passes through a constriction in the system, bubbles form and then collapse due to a pressure change. This "cavitation", the formation, growth and subsequent collapse of microbubbles, produces high, localized energy that disintegrates the cellulose fibers.

The team previously developed a pretreatment system that uses ultrasonic (US) energy to SP-treated biomass. This also results in cavitation. The team then compared the efficiency of HD-SP and US-SP systems. The HD-SP system was found more efficient than the US-SP system.