Abstract

The citric acid (CA) has been proven to be an appro-priate leaching agent for sugarcane residues en route to producing upgraded bio-oils via fast pyrolysis. Moreover, it is evident that the economic feasibility of sugarcane residues pretreatment via acid leaching, heavily relies on the acid concentration. Therefore, in this study, we report on the effect of pretreating sugarcane trash (SCT) and sugarcane bagasse (SCB) with different concentrations of CA to achieve the demineralization of biomass. The pretreated SCT and SCB were subject to fast pyrolysis and the chemical composition of pyrolysis vapors was correlated to the results of biomass demineralization. The ash content varied slightly in both residues upon a decrease in the concentration of the leaching solution. Studies of pretreated SCT and SCB showed an increase in the production of levoglu-cosan concerning the raw feedstock, demonstrating a clear indication of the undesirable effect of the alkali and alkaline earth metals during analytical pyrolysis at 500 °C. The nonparametric analysis of results revealed that the pretreatment with lowest concentrations for CA (0.096 kg/dm3) and 0.251 kg/dm3for H2SO4have a similar influence on the production of levoglucosan than higher concentrations tested.