Kinetics of hydrolysis of arabinogalactans

Arabinogalactans (AG) are hemicelluloses which appear in large quantities in larch species. The conversion of AG as a sustainable feedstock into valuable products through a sugar platform, which includes hydrolysis of AG to monomers and transforming the sugars to bio-based chemicals, was studied. The kinetics of hydrolysis of AG was studied in a batch stirred reactor at ≤ 100°C and 1-3 pH. Different mineral acids were tested as catalysts and their activities were compared. The activity of heterogeneous acid catalysts was also elucidated. The molar mass and concentration of the sugars were determined by GC after silylation. The effect of kinetic parameters on the rate of hydrolysis was then investigated. A preliminary kinetic model was developed based on the experimental results. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 7th European Congress of Chemical Engineering-7 and 19th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering CHISA (Prague, Czech Republic 8/28/2010-9/1/2010).