Microwave-Assisted Per Acetic Acid to Pretreat Beech Biomass for Subsequent Thermal Conversion

Md. Suruzzaman;

Microwave-assisted per acetic acid (PAA, 15% v/v) pretreatment effectively destroyed the structure of beech wood, and
increased its cellulose crystallinity. The FTIR peaks originated from lignin decreased or disappeared, indicating that the
pretreatment was effective at removing lignin. According to the TG analysis, the peak of hemicellulose disappeared for the
pretreated biomass, indicating the removal of hemicellulose by the microwave-assisted pretreatment. Besides, the char yield of
pretreated beech wood was only 10.1 %, which was much lower than raw beech wood. Therefore, the pretreatment can
decrease catalyst deactivation by coke deposition, which a major obstacle for thermal conversion.