Characterization and components separation of corn stover by alkali and hydrogen peroxide treatments

The dissolution of corn stover in alkaline solvent system composed of NaOH-H₂O₂ was reported and the separation of its ingredients combined with acid precipitation, ethanol extraction was proposed. It is proven that the residual after alkali solvent was cellulose, the filtrate by the acid precipitation of the liquor was lignin, the solid by the ethanol extraction of the liquor was hemicellulose. The optimum dissolution conditions were determined by single-factor experiment as follows: the concentration of H₂O₂ 5.0%, pH 11.5, dissolution temperature 60°C, dissolution time 3.0 h, the ratio of liquid to solid 30 mL/g. And chemical analysis were employed to determine the purity of the components separated. The structure of the components separated were identifi ed by FT-IR, SEM, XRD and NMR. The cellulose recovery yield can achieve to 84.2% and lignin recovery yield is 86.6%, the hemicellulose recovery yield is 96.7%. After recycling the solvent 3 times, the recovery yield of cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose were 82.7, 87.6 and 97.4%, and the purity of cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose were 98.0, 96.5 and 98.7%, respectively.