Obtaining Cellulose Fibers from Almond Shell by Combining Subcritical Water Extraction and Bleaching with Hydrogen Peroxide

[EN] Almond shell (AS) represents about 33% of the almond fruit, being a cellulose-rich by-product. The use of greener methods for separating cellulose would contribute to better exploitation of this biomass. Subcritical water extraction (SWE) at 160 and 180 degrees C has been used as a previous tre...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gil-Guillén, Irene, Vieira-De Freitas, Pedro Augusto, González Martínez, María Consuelo|||0000-0001-9993-8303, Chiralt, Amparo|||0000-0003-1134-8144
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/208657
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/208657
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Almond shell
Valorisation of agri-food waste
Subcritical water extraction
Hydrogen peroxide
Bleaching
Cellulose
TECNOLOGIA DE ALIMENTOS
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Almond shell (AS) represents about 33% of the almond fruit, being a cellulose-rich by-product. The use of greener methods for separating cellulose would contribute to better exploitation of this biomass. Subcritical water extraction (SWE) at 160 and 180 degrees C has been used as a previous treatment to purify cellulose of AS, followed by a bleaching step with hydrogen peroxide (8%) at pH 12. For comparison purposes, bleaching with sodium chlorite of the extraction residues was also studied. The highest extraction temperature promoted the removal of hemicellulose and the subsequent delignification during the bleaching step. After bleaching with hydrogen peroxide, the AS particles had a cellulose content of 71 and 78%, with crystallinity index of 50 and 62%, respectively, for those treated at 160 and 180 degrees C. The use of sodium chlorite as bleaching agent improved the cellulose purification and crystallinity index. Nevertheless, cellulose obtained by both bleaching treatments could be useful for different applications. Therefore, SWE represents a promising green technique to improve the bleaching sensitivity of lignocellulosic residues, such as AS, allowing for a great reduction in chemicals in the cellulose purification processes.