Co-production of xylooligosaccharides and activated carbons from Camellia oleifera shell treated by the catalysis and activation of zinc chloride

• Published in: Bioresource technology 2020-06, Vol.306, p.123131-123131, Article 123131
• Main Authors: You, Yanzhi, Zhang, Xiankun, Li, Pengfei, Lei, Fuhou, Jiang, Jianxin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activated carbons; Camellia oleifera shell; Catalytic pretreatment; Xylooligosaccharides; ZnCl2 activation
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123131

[Display omitted] •Co-production of XOS and AC from COS was achieved for the first time.•ZnCl2 can not only promote XOS production but also serve as an activator of AC.•Most effective hemicellulose degradation occurred at 170 °C.•The maximum yield and concentration of XOS were 61.38% and 14.39 g/L, respectively.•The maximum BET surface area of the prepared AC was up to 1244.46 m2/g. Camellia oleifera shell (COS) is a worthy byproduct in woody edible oil production enriched in hemicellulose and lignin. This paper aims to explore the high-value transformation of COS for the production of xylooligosaccharides (XOS) with main degree of polymerization (DP) of 2–5 by the catalysis of ZnCl2. The effect of pretreatment temperature, reaction time and ZnCl2 concentration on the contents and DP distributions of XOS were analyzed. Moderate reaction conditions tended to achieve high content XOS, and the maximum value 61.38% and 14.39 g/L of XOS yield and concentration, respectively, peaked at 170 °C for 30 min using 0.5% (w/w) ZnCl2. The first time the solid residues derived from the production process of XOS were used as the precursor for the co-production of activated carbons (AC). The maximum iodine values and BET surface area were 5623.94 mg/g and 1244.46 m2/g, respectively, using 2.20 M ZnCl2 as the activating agent.