Integral use of pepper stems

Pepper stems were treated for its integral utilization. Characterization of original pepper stems (63.4% holocellulose, 23.3% hemicelluloses, 25.6% lignin) was done according to standards methods. In this work, the valorisation of these components was studied. Hemicelluloses fraction recovered from the hydrol-sated pepper stems presented xylose and glucose as the main simple sugars, representing 39% and 19.9% of total sugars content in the autohydrolysis hydrolysates and 59.8% and 16% in the acid hydrolysates respectively. Physical properties of paper sheets formed with soda pulp from pre-hydrolysated pepper stems were measured with high 76 degrees SR value, and cellulose and lignin fractions from pulp and black liquor were recovered respectively. Cellulose was characterized by ATR-IR to complete the chemical structure analysis. Lignin isolated from the liquid was submitted to ATR-IR, H-1 NMR. GPC and TGA in order to suggest suitable applications based on its physicochemical properties. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.