Thermo-mechanical fractionation of yellow poplar sawdust with a low reaction severity using continuous twin screw-driven reactor for high hemicellulosic sugar recovery.

Yellow poplar sawdust (YPS), a wood waste that can be easily collected from a local furniture factory, was fractionated using continuous twin screw-driven reactor for high hemicellulosic sugar recovery. The highest total sugar yields were attained under the following conditions: a barrel temperature of 127°C, sulfuric acid concentration of 0.8wt%, liquid feeding rate of 25mL/min, solid feeding rate of 2.0g/min, screw rotation speed of 25rpm, and residence time of 14.5min. The glucan and hemicellulose contents of the CTSR-fractionated YPS were 47.8% and 10.4%, respectively, and these results indicated that 44.9% of cellulose and 76.3% of the hemicellulose were extracted into liquid hydrolyzate. Meanwhile, the batch fractionation of YPS at the same reaction conditions showed a little fractionation effect, i.e., only 20.5% of hemicellulosic sugar yield was obtained.