Starch foams containing biomass from the second generation cellulosic ethanol production

Abstract

Second generation bioethanol is produced from lignocellulose which comes from agricultural waste instead of agricultural feedstock. This study utilized the residuals from the extraction of C5 and C6 sugars in the second generation bioethanol while 20 and 40 wt % of the biomass was blended with starch into a starch/biomass foam. After adding the biomass into starch foam, the morphology of the starch foam changed significantly, showing rough surfaces, higher cell densities, as well as smaller cell areas than the starch only foam. Adding the biomass into the starch overall resulted in the reduction of the compressive strength, the stiffness, and the density of the starch foam. The water sensitivity of the starch foam/biomass was reduced by 60%, indicating a significant improvement of the hydrophilic nature of the starch foam. The foam/biomass demonstrated a lower thermal stability than neat starch foam due to the decomposition of the biomass. The study concluded that the biomass from the second generation cellulosic ethanol process possess similar physical, mechanical, and thermal properties as the other starch foam composite, and yet, no additive is required.

Research progress on the application of tristate water in preparation of starch‐based foaming materials

“…Second, poor water resistance leads to the lack of protective function, limit the application in the field of packaging. [14][15][16] In view of the above deficiencies, the current research on starch foaming composite mainly involves: (1) composite preparation of starch and resin/ plant fiber can significantly improve the overall mechanical and water resistance of materials; (2) chemical modification of starch can improve the performance of the material in the aspects of plasticizing, foaming, hydrophobic, and expansion; (3) the development and application of high-performance equipment could ensure high quality, low consumption and high productivity of starch foams in the preparation process. [17,18] Among the numerous studies, there are relatively few cases of adding simple raw materials and using simple processes to develop all-starch foaming materials and studying the mechanism of these processes.…”

Starch foam material performance prediction based on a radial basis function artificial neural network trained by bare‐bones particle swarm optimization with an adaptive disturbance factor

“…As a new good compound‐packaging material, it is beneficial for relieving white pollution and highly appreciated by the industrial and academic world. To improve the mechanical properties, microstructure, and degradation properties of these materials, some crosslinking agents and plasticizer have often been mixed with starch to get starch‐based foam materials with good comprehensive properties . Many experiments on the composition of this starch‐based foam material have been done in actual scientific research or industrial production to test the properties of the materials; this has enabled the optimized combination of the components and corresponding contents .…”