Study of Hydrolysis methods for waste paper to produce bioethanol

Abstract

Waste paper is a major source of cellulosic biomass among most biodegradable solid waste. The conversion of waste paper for glucose production was investigated in this current work using conventional and microwave-intensified method hydrolysis. The conventional method was performed by stirring for 1 h and heating at 121°C in a reflux set-up using different catalysts: sulfuric acid (H2SO4), hydrochloric acid HCl (37%), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) with two concentrations 0.1% and 5%. However, the intensified hydrolysis using microwave was investigated using tow levels of power 400 W and 800 W for 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 30 min, and 1 h. The results showed that the highest concentrations of reducing sugars of 8.7291g/L and 5.4814 g/L were obtained with H2SO4 and HCl respectively with the conventional hydrolysis method. On the other side, for microwave hydrolysis, the maximum concentration of reducing sugar of 2.158 g/L was obtained with 0.1% of hydrochloric acid. The results are very promising in hydrolysis method to enhance the efficiency of the use of recycling paper in bioethanol production.