Preliminary investigation on hot-compressed water pretreatment of Japanese beech powder for fuel-ethanol production

The effects of temperature and reaction time on dissolution of Japanese beech powder by hot-compressed water treatment were investigated. When the temperature was lower than 200℃, water-soluble portion, xylose concentration and furfural concentration increased with the increase of temperature, while glucose concentration and 5-HMF concentration were lower. When temperature was higher than 200℃, water-soluble portion did not vary significantly with reaction time prolonged. Glucose concentration increased with reaction time prolonged while xylose concentration decreased with reaction time prolonged. Furfural concentration did not vary or even decrease a little with reaction time prolonged while 5-HMF increased with reaction time prolonged.