Hydrolysis Kinetics of Wheat Straw in Saturated Formic Acid / 4% Hydrochloric Acid Solution

Lignocellulosic materials are regarded as an alternative energy source for bioethanol production to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Pretreatment is an essential step in the enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass and subsequent production of bioethanol. Adding formic acid with catalyst dosage (4%) in saturated formic acid will be good for cellulose degradation and glucose production; when the cellulose hydrolyses to glucose, the glucose degrades simultaneously. Kinetic models can have practical applications for the optimization of the process and performance analysis, or economic estimations, so investigate the wheat straw hydrolysis kinetics is necessary. In this paper, effects of temperature and time on wheat straw hydrolysis in saturated formic acid with 4% hydrochloric acid solution reaction kinetics have been investigated. The results showed that the hydrolysis velocities of wheat straw were 0.0190 h−1at 60 °C, 0.0325 h−1at 65 °C, 0.0683 h−1at 70 °C and 0.0931 at 75 °C. The degradation velocities of glucose were 0.0285 h−1at 55 °C, 0.0448 h−1at 65 °C, 0.1098 h−1at 70°C and 0.1436 h−1at 75 °C. The activation energy of wheat straw hydrolysis was 106.35kJ/mol, and the activation energy of glucose degradation was 111.00kJ/mol.