Wood is mainly composed of lignin (20%), cellulose (50%) and hemicellulose (25%). These components can be catalytic hydrolyzed into their corresponding monomers by conventional enzymes or liquid acids. Among them, cellulose and hemicellulose are hydrolyzed into sugars, such as glucose. Recently, Professor Zhen Fang (http://brg.groups.xtbg.ac.cn/) found that wood could be quickly dissolved and hydrolyzed to sugars in high temperature water within several seconds. Then, the sugars were degraded into compounds with different colors, which would be subsequently converted into nano-particles through polymerization and carbonization at high temperature. By quenching the ongoing reaction solutions at different temperature and different time, various dyes and carbon nano-particles were obtained. These dyes could be used in food, painting, printing and textile industries, while carbon nano-particles could be applied to prepare explosives, composite materials, fertilizers, catalyst carriers, adsorbing materials, etc. In this study, the pathways and mechanism of glucose decomposition in high-pressure hot water under homogeneous condition were proposed. Based on the research, special products could be expected and obtained under certain conditions.
Related references:
1. Zhen Fang*, R.L. Smith Jr., J.A. Kozinski, T. Minowa, K. Arai, Reaction of D-Glucose in Water at High Temperatures (410oC) and Pressures (180 MPa) for the Production of Dyes and Nano-particles, The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 56, 41-47 (2011).(http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.supflu.2010.11.009)
2. Zhen Fang*, C. Fang, Complete Dissolution and Hydrolysis of Wood in Hot Water, AIChE Journal, 54(10), 2751-2758 (2008).
(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.11577/full)
3. Zhen Fang*, Noncatalytic Fast Hydrolysis of Wood, Bioresource Technology, 102, 3587-3590 (2011). (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.10.063)
4.Zhen Fang. A new method for production of dye and nano-particles from wood. (Patent number: 200810058222.3)
