Hyphenated Size Exclusion Chromatography to Study Residual Lignin in Alkali Extracted Xylans from Paper Pulps

Title:Hyphenated Size Exclusion Chromatography to Study Residual Lignin in Alkali Extracted Xylans from Paper Pulps

Volume: 4

Author(s): Christian Hutterer, Gerhard Kliba, Karin Fackler, Stefan Bohmdorfer and Antje Potthast*

Affiliation:

• University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Division of Chemistry of Renewable Resources, Department of Chemistry, Konrad-Lorenz-Str. 24, A-3430 Tulln,Austria

Keywords: Enzymatic xylan degradation, lignin, lignin carbohydrate complexes, lignin profiling, size exclusion chromatography, xylan, xylanase.

Abstract: Background: The effective separation of wood pulp components to produce high-quality, high-yield cellulose products is of high economic interest for global market players in the pulp and paper industry. Technological advances offer the opportunity to generate value out of currently unutilized wood constituents, which are normally combusted for power generation. In particular, hardwood xylan shows enormous potential, as it remains almost unaffected during alkaline Kraft cooks and can be separated from cellulose by a simple process-integrated alkaline post-extraction step.

Objective: To obtain a valuable xylan product with high purity, the selective extraction of xylan without impurities is sought. Yet, residual lignin is co-extracted with xylan under alkaline conditions. To define strategies for the removal of this lignin, its solution behavior in extraction lyes should be clarified.

Method: In this project, experiments including enzymatic xylan digests coupled with size exclusion chromatography (SEC) were conducted to explore the effects of lignin-xylan complexes.

Results: The simultaneous decline of UV and RI signal intensities in size exclusion chromatograms after enzymatic xylan digest indicated the presence of linkages between hardwood xylan and residual technical lignin.

Conclusion: The indication of linkages between xylan and lignin allows for defining bleaching strategies for the production of a high purity xylan product.

Cite this article as:

Hutterer Christian, Kliba Gerhard, Fackler Karin, Bohmdorfer Stefan and Potthast Antje*, Hyphenated Size Exclusion Chromatography to Study Residual Lignin in Alkali Extracted Xylans from Paper Pulps, Current Chromatography 2017; 4 (1) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/2213240604666170201163706

DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/2213240604666170201163706	Print ISSN 2213-2406
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher	Online ISSN 2213-2414