Plasma based pretreatments of lignocellulosic biomass for Biogas and Bioethanol production

The aim of this project provides the use of a lignocellulosic biomass microbubble reactor in order to analyse the pre-treatment of cellulose and maize for, respectively, Bioethanol and Biogas production. Because of lignin recalcitrance, dielectric barrier discharge plasma is used to improve the solubility and accessibility of these feedstock. The novel reactor combined with this plasma source generates highly oxidative species (O3, H2O2, and OH radicals) close to the gas-liquid interface. The cellulose has been treated under different conditions such as treatment time (30 min, 60 min, 90 min and 120 min) and pH buffer solution (pH 3, pH 7 and pH 9). The maize biomass has been reacted under 5 different conditions (Control sludge, Untreated raw maize, Plasma treated washed maize, Plasma treated unwashed maize, Bubble treated unwashed maize). The optimal operating condition, for cellulose biomass, that produced the highest glucose concentration results with pH 3 and with 30 min treatments. On the other hand, maize samples treated with plasma, both washed and unwashed, generate more biogas than bubble treatment, control sludge or untreated raw maize.