Effects of Severity Levels on Degree of Delignification of Sugarcane Bagasse Using Hydrogen Peroxide and Sodium Hydroxide

Harnessing energy from lignocellulosic materials such as sugarcane bagasse is increasingly coming to the forefront to replace fossil fuels. This is to reduce carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere associated with use of fossil fuels in order to curb global warming. Processing sugarcane bagasse into an energy precursor must however be preceded by the removal of its protective and recalcitrant lignin layer. Low temperature delignification of sugarcane bagasse was carried out in this work using a potpourri of severity levels (pH, temperature, concentration, time and delignifying agent type) and the degree of delignification compared. Generally, increase in severity levels resulted in increase in degree of delignification for both hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide. However, 100% increase in concentrations of sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide from 30 to 60 g/l and from 3 to 6% respectively resulted in significantly lower increase in degree of delignification for all temperatures and pH values studied. Hence, severity levels arising from higher pH and temperature values is more significant than severity levels arising from lignifying agent type and its concentration.