From corn stover to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural by ball milling-microwave hydrothermal (BM-MHT)

• Published in: Biomass conversion and biorefinery Vol. 14; no. 13; pp. 15069 - 15078
• Main Authors: Fan, Lijiao, Bai, Xinyu, Wang, Yanhong, Xiao, Liqun, Wang, Lulu, Shen, Dongsheng, Long, Yuyang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ball milling; Biotechnology; Corn; Design optimization; Design parameters; Energy; Hydroxymethylfurfural; Original Article; Pretreatment; Raw materials; Renewable and Green Energy; Response surface methodology; Ball milling; Microwave hydrothermal; 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural; Corn stover; Valorization
• ISSN: 2190-6815; 2190-6823
• DOI: 10.1007/s13399-022-03648-x

Ball milling (BM) pretreatment combined with microwave hydrothermal (MHT) was introduced to convert corn stover into the high value-added chemical 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology were used to optimize the key parameters of BM pretreatments. The BM rotational speed of 580 rpm, BM time of 360 min, and ball-to-solid ratio of 60:1 were elected firstly. Then, the pretreated corn stover was further subjected for MHT. It shows that the BM pretreated corn stover could increase the yield of HMF by about 2 times compared with the raw material. And the highest HMF yield of 3.46 ± 0.02 wt% after 150 min at 214 °C was observed. Furthermore, the potential of BM-MHT was compared with the traditional methods and the 7.5 times of superiority was verified. Finally, it was proven that the potential profit of HMF production from corn stover by BM-MHT was $26,303 per ton. BM-MHT is a promising choice for corn stover-like biomass valorization. Graphical Abstract