Valorization of Waste Lignocellulose to Furfural by Sulfonated Biobased Heterogeneous Catalyst Using Ultrasonic-Treated Chestnut Shell Waste as Carrier

Recently, the highly efficient production of value-added biobased chemicals from available, inexpensive, and renewable biomass has gained more and more attention in a sustainable catalytic process. Furfural is a versatile biobased chemical, which has been widely used for making solvents, lubricants, inks, adhesives, antacids, polymers, plastics, fuels, fragrances, flavors, fungicides, fertilizers, nematicides, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. In this work, ultrasonic-treated chestnut shell waste (UTS-CSW) was utilized as biobased support to prepare biomass-based heterogeneous catalyst (CSUTS-CSW) for transforming waste lignocellulosic materials into furfural. The pore and surface properties of CSUTS-CSW were characterized with BET, SEM, XRD, and FT-IR. In toluene–water (2:1, v:v; pH 1.0), CSUTS-CSW (3.6 wt%) converted corncob into furfural yield in the yield of 68.7% at 180 °C in 15 min. CSUTS-CSW had high activity and thermostability, which could be recycled and reused for seven batches. From first to seventh, the yields were obtained from 68.7 to 47.5%. Clearly, this biobased solid acid CSUTS-CSW could be used for the sustainable conversion of waste biomasses into furfural, which had potential application in future.

Evaluation of chestnut shell and coffee waste with phenol-formaldehyde resin for plywood filler

A casca da castanha e resíduos de café moído foram avaliados como material de enchimento para produção de adesivo para compensados. Uma resina de fenol-formaldeído (FF) foi formulada em laboratório para fabricação de compensados. As propriedades da resina FF foram sólidos não voláteis, tempo de gelatinização (gel time),viscosidade, etc. A resina FF sintetizada em laboratório foi misturada com extensor, carga e NaOH. Os compensados foram feitos de maneira uniforme com a mistura de resina FF e testados quanto à resistência ao cisalhamento, módulo de ruptura (MOR) e inchamento em espessura, de acordo com as normas coreanas KS F 3101 e KS F 3114. Todos os compensados fabricados com cada tipo de carga apresentaram boas propriedades de resistência física e mecânica. Os resultados dos testes de desempenho indicaram que a casca da castanha e os resíduos de café moído são adequados como carga para produção de adesivo para fabricação de compensados.

Comparison of Treatments by Mercerization and Plasma Glow Discharge on Residues of the Amazon Chestnut Shell (Bertholletia Excelsa)

The chestnut shell from the Amazon region shared between Colombia, Brazil, and Perú is an abundant residue of the walnut used for obtaining food and cosmetic products. This residue is not yet usable due to the lack of knowledge of its properties and the environmental impact generated by its treatment through methods such as mercerization. This work presents the results of the characterization of Amazon chestnut shell residues treated by two methods, mercerization with NaOH solution and intense plasma discharge (Glow Discharge Plasma), in a reactor with argon gas in a 0,3-bar vacuum and discharge conditions of 80 mA and 600 s. The microstructural, morphological, topographic, and nanomechanical changes of the chestnut residues without treatment and with the two proposed treatments were evaluated by means of the µRaman, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy techniques. The results showed the effectiveness of the plasma method over the mercerization method at obtaining more crystalline cellulose structures due to the reduction of hemicellulose, lignin, and the aqueous phase of walnut shell waste.

Sustainable Functional Finishing For Cotton Fabrics Using Chestnut Shell Extract

Owing to global environmental concerns, sustainable industrial processes have become a topic of significant importance in various fields. Chestnut shells are byproducts of agricultural and food industries; however, they include various health-beneficial compounds such as polyphenols and flavonoids. In this study, the feasibility of using chestnut shell extract as a natural functional agent for textile finishing processes was investigated. The chestnut shell extract was prepared by boiling the inner and outer shells of chestnut in distilled water for 4 h. Subsequently, the extract was filtered, centrifuged, concentrated, and finally dried into powder form using a freeze dryer. The extract was then dissolved in distilled water at different concentrations and applied to cotton fabrics through a pad-dry-cure process. The finished cotton fabrics were investigated by scanning electron microscope, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, etc. In addition, the antibacterial and antioxidant properties of the finished cotton fabrics were examined as functional properties. The results showed that the cotton fabrics finished by chestnut shell extract exhibited significant antibacterial, antioxidant, and deodorant properties when the concentration of the chestnut shell extract was above 10 wt% in the finishing bath.