Abstract:The effects of steam-flash time, steam-flash pressure, and sodium-hydroxide concentrate on the hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin contents of corn stalks were studied in this study using the high density steam flash-explosion (HDSF). Based on single-factor experiments and the central-combination-experiment principle of design, the nanofibrillated-cellulose content was taken as the response value, and the experiment’s design and data analysis were carried out using response-surface analysis. The study found that the optimal process for preparing nanofibrillated cellulose was 1.5 MPa, 285 s, and a sodium-hydroxide concentration of 0.4 mol/L, the pentose yield was 45.88% under optimal conditions, close to the predicted value of 46.02%. The results indicated that the surface methodology was appropriate during this process, the hemicellulose content was 13.50% and the lignin content was 11.78%. The factors affecting the yield of nanocellulose were in order of steam-flash pressure> steam-flash time> sodium-hydroxide concentrate. HDSF aids the separation of the entwined hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin, which has advantages of high efficiency, low cost, green and non-pollution, etc. The nanofibrillated cellulose prepared using this method had a small particle size and good water solubility, giving corn nanofibrillated cellulose good prospects for application.
