Study On Degradation Of Cellulose By Electrochemical Oxidization

Higher value applications of biomass and taking advantage of reproducible biomass can replace or reduce the dependence of non-renewable fossil energy in the face of human resource and energy’s energy crisis. It is a decisive function of living environment that cellulose produces energy and materials satisfied for human as well as exploits biomass based production. The purpose of research is that cellulose is degradated to soluble micromolecules or organics such as glucose. Cellulose is the most portions in the plants which is made up of orderly arranged glucose. Its structure exists a large number of forming network hydrogen bond, which leads to cellulose is insoluble in water and hard to degrade. This paper put forward the idea that hydroxy is oxidized to carboxyl in cellulose or chemical bond is break for deragdation by electrochemical oxidation. The object of study is microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), and its degradation in three kinds of electrolysis systems was studied:1. Cause of the complexity of products from cellulose’s degradation, evaluation of degradating effect was established. It included three kinds of system, weighing method, COD method and total reducing sugar method. There were advatages and disadvantages for every method:weighing method is the most visual and can test nano-crystalline cellulose in water; total reducing sugar method measures reducing sugar but not the overall; COD method can mesure not only the micromolecule products of degradation, but also reducible functional group in nano-crystalline cellulose. The evaluation index is suitably cose according to specific reaction system.2. Two kinds of electrolysis system were established:one electrolysis system takes graphite plate as anode and nickel foamas cathode; the other electrolysis system takes RuO2/Ti electrode as anode and graphite felt electrode as cathode, then-OH-radical generated from cathode and anode’s direct function together oxidize cellulose. The result is about 15% by weighing method while 55-65% by COD. It indicated thatin the two electrolysis systems cellulose wasn’t effectively degradated.3. The third electrolysis system is taking TEMPO as medium in electrochemical method to selectively oxidate cellulose. The cyclic regeneration of TEMPO by electrochemical method didn’t add chemical oxidizing reagents. About one third glucose units’ hydroxy on C6 were oxided to carboxyl after 48h. Electrochemical preoxidation significantly enhanced hydrolysis of cellulose and the hydrolyzed ratio reached up to 81.73% (weighing method). This indicated that MCC was markedly degraded.This paper makes a thorough inquiry about three electrochemical oxidation methods to degrade cellulose. The whole process possesses clean, energy-saving, convenient advantage. It’s basis for more deeply research on cellulose degradation and provides the important gist for higher value applications of biomass by a clean and efficient way.