Abstract

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND ACID CONCENTRATION ON WASTE AGRICULTURAL CELLULOSE BIOMASS DEGRADATION

Nnam Raphael Eze*, Oko Nnam Ahamefula, Ugah Chukwuemeka S., Okoro Otuu Inya and Chihurumnanya Ola Oji

ABSTRACT

Bioconversion of agricultural waste products to produce value-added food products like simple sugar; fuels and chemicals offers potential economic, environmental and strategic advantages over traditional fossil-based products. A comparative study on the effect of temperature and concentration on waste cellulose biomass degradation to glucose was studied at temperature range of 80 – 1300C and concentration range of 2, 4, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 and 6Mol/dm3 for a period of 48hours. The percentage (%) glucose yield was calculated at 8h interval for the various temperatures and concentration ranges. This study was done using two different acids namely sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid. The research showed that glucose is present in a reasonable amount in sawdust and its %yield is greatly influenced by the acid concentration and temperature. It is also influenced by the type of acid used and the reaction time. For a temperature of 1300C the %glucose yield when sulphuric acid was used for the cellulose degradation at 2.0, 4.0, 4.5, 50, 5.5 and 6.0mol/dm3 after 48h is 28.4%, 37.2%, 35.6%, 47.8%, 56.7% and 61.2% while the %glucose yield for hydrochloric acid at the same temperature and concentrations stood at 25.1%, 33.2%, 30.0%, 45.4%, 51.2% and 58.1%. The results showed that the rate of hydrolysis by virtue of glucose yield, generally increased with increase in temperature and acid concentration except for acid concentration from 4,0 - 4.5mol/dm3 were we noticed a decline in %glucose yield for both acids and all the temperatures.

Keywords: Acid Hydrolysis, Temperature, Acid Concentration, Sawdust, Agricultural Waste.