Hydrolysis of pentosans in bagasse pith

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Abstract
Work has been conducted on the hydrolysis of pentosans in bagasse pith as the first part of a study of the chemistry of bagasse processing aimed at establishing an integrated industry. Bagasse pith is the fine part screened out and discarded as waste during the preparation of raw material for bagasse pulping plant. By using dilute sulphuric acid at a concentration less than 2% by weight and at a temperature lower than 165°C, pith is hydrolysed to pentoses in a yield of 80–90% based on potential pentoses in pith. Hydrolysis of pentosans in pith, within the scope of experiment, seems to be a first order reaction. However, the semi‐logarithmic time plot for the hydrolysis of potential pentoses in the residue consists of two straight lines of different slope. This may be explained on the assumption that bagasse pith contains two major fractions of pentosans that are hydrolysed at different rates. Saeman's equation for hydrolysis of wood with sulphuric acid may be adapted to represent dependence of rate constant K on acid concentration C and reaction temperature T in hydrolysis of the two major parts of pentosans in bagasse pith.K1 = 6.4 × 105C1.02 exp (−6378/T)K2 = 10.7C0.363 exp (‐ 2826/T)

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