Ultrasound Assisted Pretreatments Applied to Cupuacu Husk (Theobroma grandiflorum) from Brazilian Amazon for Biorefinery Concept

Cupuacu husk (CH) is the waste of a common fruit from a native species of the Brazilian Legal Amazon. The current study investigated the influence of ultrasound (US) combined with aqueous, acid, alkaline, and ionic liquid (IL) pretreatments on the chemical and physical aspects of CH and the yield of chemical platforms production, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural (FF), using IL. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to feature the raw and pretreated biomass. The highest levels of glucose (9.90 g L-1) were observed in the liquid fraction resulting from the acid + US pretreatment followed by acid hydrolysis. The IL + US pretreatment recorded the best performance in removing lignin. Based on XRD analyses, ultrasound increased crystallinity of all pretreated samples as a result of the removal of cellulose's amorphous fraction. However, it promoted accessibility to adopted reagents by increasing biomass exposure due to cavitation. The best yields of HMF and FF were recorded from hydrolysis of the solid fraction resulting from the acid + US (12.94%) and alkaline + US (48.84%) pretreatment, respectively. These results indicate satisfactory performance of ultrasound assisted pretreatments to the simplified and economic conversion of biomass into value-added products.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of ultrasound combined with different pretreatment methods on cupuacu husk. The results showed that ultrasound increased the crystallinity and processability of the biomass, and the acid+ultrasound and alkaline+ultrasound pretreatments resulted in higher yields of value-added products.