Kinetics and Mechanism of Oxygen Delignification Yun Ji
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The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library 5-2007 Kinetics and Mechanism of Oxygen Delignification Yun Ji Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd Part of the Chemical Engineering Commons, and the Organic Chemistry Commons Recommended Citation Ji, Yun, "Kinetics and Mechanism of Oxygen Delignification" (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 227. http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/227 This Open-Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. KINETICS AND MECHANISM OF OXYGEN DELIGNIFICATION By Yun Ji B.E. Northwest University of Light Industry, 1999 M.S. Asian Institute of Technology, 2002 A THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Chemical Engineering) The Graduate School The University of Maine May, 2007 Advisory Committee: Adriaan R.P. Van Heiningen, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Advisor Joseph M. Genco, Professor of Chemical Engineering M. Clayton Wheeler, Professor of Chemical Engineering Barbara J. W. Cole, Professor of Chemistry Raymond C. Fort Jr., Professor of Chemistry LIBRARY RIGHTS STATEMENT In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Maine, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for “fair use” copying of this thesis for scholarly purpose may be granted by Librarian. It is understood that any copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Signature: Date: KINETICS AND MECHANISM OF OXYGEN DELIGNIFICATION By Yun Ji Thesis Advisor: Dr. Adriaan R.P. Van Heiningen An Abstract of the Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Chemical Engineering) May, 2007 Considerable research has been conducted into the kinetics and selectivity of the oxygen delignification process to overcome limitation in its use. However most studies were performed in a batch reactor whereby the hydroxide and dissolved oxygen concentrations are changing during the reaction time in an effort to simulate tower performance in pulp mills. This makes it difficult to determine the reaction order of the different reactants in the rate expressions. Also the lignin content and cellulose degradation of the pulp are only established at the end of the experiment when the sample is removed from the batch reactor. To overcome these deficiencies, we have adopted a differential reactor system used frequently for fluid-solid rate studies (so-called Berty reactor) for measurement of oxygen delignification kinetics. In this reactor, the dissolved oxygen concentration and the alkali concentration in the feed are kept constant, and the rate of lignin removal is determined from the dissolved lignin content in the outflow stream measured by UV absorption. The mass of lignin removed is verified by analyzing the pulp at several time intervals. Experiments were performed at different temperatures, oxygen pressures and caustic concentrations. The delignification rate was found to be first order in HexA-free residual lignin content. The delignification rate reaction order in caustic concentration and oxygen pressure were determined to be 0.42 and 0.44 respectively. The activation energy was found to be 53kJ/mol. The carbohydrate degradation during oxygen delignification can be described by two contributions: one due to radicals produced by phenolic delignification, and a much smaller contribution due to alkaline hydrolysis. From the first order of the reaction and the pKa of the active lignin site, a new oxygen delignification mechanism is proposed. The number 3 carbon atom in the aromatic ring with the attached methoxyl group forms the lignin active site for oxygen adsorption and subsequent electrophic reaction to form a hydroperoxide with a pKa value similar to that of the present delignification kinetics. The uniform presence of the aromatic methoxyl groups in residual lignin further support the first order in lignin kinetics. ACKNOWLWDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my advisor Dr. Adriaan R.P Van Heiningen for his excellent guidance and enthusiastic encouragement through this study. I am grateful to all my committee members, Dr. Adriaan R.P Van Heiningen, Dr. Joseph M. Genco, Dr. Clayton M. Wheeler, Dr. Barbara J. W. Cole and Dr. Raymond C. Fort Jr. for their valuable suggestions and guidance during the process of proposal development. I wish to express my utmost appreciation to the technical association of Finland VTT and TEKES for their financial help. I wish to thank the members of Ober Research Group for their friendship and encouragement to help me complete the study at the University of Maine. I wish to thank all the staff in the Chemical Engineering Department, especially Mr. Amos E. Cline for their warm-hearted help. I also would like to thank my parents for their sincere support and encouragement. Last but not the least, I wish to give my special thanks my husband, Xuefei Zhang, for his love and encouragement. ii TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………….ii LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………...x LIST OF FIGURES..……………………………………………………………………xiii LIST OF EQUATIONS…………………………………………………………………xix Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Wood Pulping ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Cellulose ................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Hemicelluloses.......................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Lignin........................................................................................................................ 7 1.5 Lignin Carbohydrates Complex (LCC) .................................................................. 11 1.6 Oxygen Delignification Process ............................................................................. 13 2. DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM AND OBJECTIVES ................................................ 19 2.1 Description of Problem........................................................................................... 19 2.2 Objectives ............................................................................................................... 20 3. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 21 3.1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 21 3.1.1 Oxygen Chemistry ........................................................................................... 21 3.1.2 Lignin Chemistry ............................................................................................. 22 3.1.3 Carbohydrate Chemistry .................................................................................. 27 3.1.4 Limitations in Oxygen Delignification ............................................................ 29 3.1.5 Mass Transfer of Oxygen................................................................................. 30 iii 3.2 Kinetics of Oxygen Delignification........................................................................ 31 3.2.1 Kinetic Models of Oxygen Delignification...................................................... 32 3.2.1.1 Single Equation Model ............................................................................. 32 3.2.1.2 Two Region Model ................................................................................... 33 3.2.2 Kinetics of Carbohydrate Degradation ............................................................ 34 3.3 Interpretation of the High Rate Orders ................................................................... 35 3.4 Demand of Oxygen in Oxygen Delignification Process......................................... 36 3.5 Treatment of Experimental Data............................................................................. 37 3.5.1 Power Law Model............................................................................................ 37 3.5.2 Two Region Kinetic Model ............................................................................. 38 3.5.3 Cellulose Degradation...................................................................................... 40 3.5.3.1 Degree of Polymerization of Cellulose..................................................... 40 3.5.3.2 Number of Moles of Cellulose per Ton of Pulp ....................................... 40 3.5.3.3 Power Law Model for Cellulose Degradation .......................................... 41 3.6 Selectivity of the Oxygen Delignification Process ................................................. 42 4. EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES ........................................... 44 4.1 Testing Standards.................................................................................................... 44 4.2 Raw Materials ......................................................................................................... 44 4.3 Equipment..............................................................................................................