Performances of a multi-product strategy for bioethanol, lignin, and ultra-high surface area carbon from lignocellulose by PHP (phosphoric acid plus hydrogen peroxide) pretreatment platform

A newly developed PHP (phosphoric acid plus hydrogen peroxide) pretreatment for lignocellulose is integrated to be a multi-product platform for bioethanol, lignin, and ultra-high surface area carbon; the performances of this multi-product strategy are investigated in this work. Based on PHP pretreatment platform, 100.0 g wheat straw yield 16.0 g ethanol from the cellulose fraction, and 7.2 g high purity lignin can be recovered from the derived liquid fraction in pretreatment. Activated carbon (PHPK-800) with ultra-high surface area of 3291 m2 g−1 can be produced from the water-soluble fractions derived from pretreatment. As electrode material for supercapacitor, PHPK-800 displays an excellent specific capacitance of 303.5 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, and retains 87.0% of initial specific capacitance with more than 95.0% coulomb efficiency after 5000 cycles. The fabricated symmetric supercapacitor harvests an excellent energy density of 13.2 Wh kg−1 with 199.9 W kg−1 power density. Besides, a superior CO2 adsorption capability of 4.61 mmol g−1 is achieved by activated carbon of PHPK-700. According to these performances, PHP pretreatment platform is promising for converting lignocellulose into bioethanol, lignin and carbons by the biomass full utilization to achieve a more sustainable lignocellulosic refinery.