10.5071/22ndEUBCE2014-3DV.2.24Katsamas, G.N.Sidiras, D.K.Experimental Design for Sugars Production by Maleic Acid Treated Wheat StrawETA-Florence Renewable Energies2014BiomassengConference paper978-88-89407-52-32282-58198 Pagesapplication/pdfIn the present work, the maleic acid hydrolysis of wheat straw was studied using a 3.75 L batch reactor. The hydrolysis reaction system was catalyzed by 0.010.09 M maleic acid at 140180 oC for 050 min isothermal reaction time. The experimental condition combinations were chosen according to the principles of experimental design. The analysis of the experimental data indicated that this process is a potential method for cellulose and hemicelluloses hydrolysis. A rapid hydrolysis reaction was achieved for adequately high reaction ending temperature. The kinetics of the maleic acid hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicelluloses were simulated by a second order polynomial model and a severity factor based firstorder kinetic model. These models incorporate the acidity of the liquid phase as affected by the production of acids within the complex network of reactions and by the neutralization due to the wheat straw ash content. The temperature profile during the process was incorporated using a new combined severity factor in logarithmic form log R0*. The models parameters were estimated using non linear regression analysis. Process parameters studied herein include variation in (i) reaction temperature profile, (ii) maleic acid concentration, reaction initial and ending pH and reaction time. Proceedings of the 22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 23-26 June 2014, Hamburg, Germany, pp. 1307-1314