Plug Flow Reactor Model to Analyse Operating Conditions on the Dilute H2SO4-acid Hydrolysis of Sugarcane Bagasse at High-Solids Loading

Previous kinetic modelling for dilute H2SO4-acid hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse operated using batch reactor led to conclude that hemicellulose conversion, about 75 % of theoretical, was possible to be reached using 1.0 % w v H2SO4 solution, solid load equal to 20 % and 80 min of operation. The present study aims to expand the fundamental understanding of the kinetic involved in this process. A continuous process isothermally performed in a plug flow reactor at dynamic was proposed and studied. H2SO4-acid hydrolysis of 200 kg h of sugarcane bagasse using 1.0 % w v H2SO4 solution, solid load equal to 20 %, 60 min and a reactor length of 1.30 m (with a cross-sectional area equal to 1 m) at 121 C resulted in yields of 59.70 % for xylose, 2.00 % for arabinose, 8.46 % for glucose, 8.42 % for acetic acid, 0.73 % for furfural, 0.12 % for 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and 0.00 % for levulinic acid which means more than 72 % of the hemicellulose (related to 30.99 % in the raw material) was easily hydrolyzed with similar inhibitors yields values when compared to process in batch configuration reported as: 8.43 % acetic acid, 0.96 % furfural, 0.16 % 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and 0.29 % levulinic acid. Hence, both reactors are equivalent in terms of the influence of the acid solution concentration and solids loading. However, plug flow reactor configuration reduces the time required to proceed with the H2SO4-acid hydrolysis.