RT Journal Article
T1 Assessment cascade biorefinery process from corn stover: furfural and volatile fatty acid production via anaerobic fermentation
A1 Illera, Alba Ester
A1 Sanz, María Teresa
A1 Mauricio Iglesias, Miguel
A1 Cubero Cardoso, Juan
K1 Agro-waste
K1 Anaerobic digestion
K1 Inoculum
K1 Subcritical water pre-treatment
K1 Furfural
AB A cascade biorefinery concept was proposed for the first time to produce furfural and subsequent volatile fatty acids production using corn stover as biomass. In the first step, Subcritical water pre-treatment was used to extract furfural from hemicellulose into the liquid phase, while the solid phase, rich in cellulose and lignin, was fermented anaerobically in the second step to produce volatile fatty acids (VFA). A subcritical water treatment combined with CO2 as pressurizing agent was used both as a pre-treatment of the biomass, and for the production of furfural from the hemicellulose fraction of the lignocellulosic biomass. After 1h at 180 °C and 50 bar, a furfural yield of 29 % was obtained in the liquid phase. Acetic and formic acid were generated as side products of the treatment. Following this treatment, 49.4 % of the initial solids were recovered, with a marked reduction in hemicellulose content (from 33 % to 5 %) and an increase in both cellulose (from 39 % to 62 %) and lignin (from 21 % to 33 %). This solid was then subjected to anaerobic fermentation. Inoculum type was a key parameter, with 12 % higher volatile fatty acids production when cow rumen was used compared to anaerobic digestion (AD) sludge from a wastewater treatment plant. Pre-treatment of corn stover did not improve organic matter biodegradation, probably due to its high lignin content. However, the proposed cascade biorefinery showed to be successful for the consecutive production of two value-added products using low value corn stover as the raw material.
PB Elsevier
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/41647
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/41647
LA eng
NO Journal of Environmental Management Volume 384, June 2025, 125516
NO This work was supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) and Next Generation UE (Plan de Recuperaciónn, Transformación y Resiliencia) [grant numbers, TED2021-129311B-I00 and PID2022-136385OB-I00] and the Junta de Castilla y León (JCyL) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [grant number BU027P23]. The ODDITY project (TED2021-130289B-I00) was funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501,100,011,033 and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR. Funding for open access charge: University of Huelva/CBUA.
DS Minerva
RD 22 abr 2026