Mild-temperature Organosolv treatment of rice-straw: extracting ability of dimethylformamide and material applications

Annual agricultural waste generation in India is estimated to be more than 501 million tons. The burning of paddy straw not only poses a serious threat to air quality, also pollutes the quality soil and water. Organosolv method is being primarily employed by using inert solvents with low boiling points for pretreatment of biomass and enhancing the accessibility of its constituents. In this article, we offer here an effective Organosolv method for better management of agricultural residue such as rice-straw using relatively reactive solvent, N, N-dimethylformamide. This is a low-cost distillation method that can simultaneously extract and modify residual biomass. A more user-friendly method for quantification of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin has also been presented. The excitation-energy-dependent photoluminescence properties of extracted product can be utilized for ultraviolet light-blocking and fluorescence imaging. The unreacted residues of rice straws remain unsusceptible to fungal growth even after incubation of 25 days. The mechanical strength of the residues can be regulated by varying the content of sawdust for application in fungal-free wooden plank. N, N-Dimethyl formamide serves the dual purpose-solvent and reactant in organosolv treatment of rice-straw. This distillation method has a good potential to emerge as a preferred transformative method of biomass. [GRAPHICS] .

Automated summary

This article presents an effective Organosolv method for better management of agricultural residue in India, such as rice-straw. The method extracts and modifies residual biomass simultaneously and also provides a user-friendly method for quantification of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. The extracted product exhibits excitation-energy-dependent photoluminescence properties that can be used for ultraviolet light-blocking and fluorescence imaging.