Optimization of Energy-Proficient
Infrared Radiated Rapid Hydrolysis
of Pineapple Skin to Reducing Sugar
Swapnendu Chatterjee, Sayan Kumar Bhattacharjee, Rajdip Roy,
and Rajat Chakraborty
Abstract Waste pineapple skin (WPS) has been hydrolyzed into reducing sugar (RS)
using Amberlyst 15 catalyst. The effects of the application of infrared radiation on the
intensification of hydrolysis of WPS have been evaluated. The Taguchi orthogonal
design determined optimal values of process factors, viz., 70 °C reactor temperature,
30 min batch time, water to WPS ratio (w/w) of 35, and 2 wt% catalyst concentration,
corresponding to maximum 86.78% RS yield employing an infrared radiated batch
reactor (IRRBR). Remarkably, the RS yield in IRRBR was significantly greater than
that obtained (45.62%) using a traditional batch reactor (TBR) at the derived optimal
conditions.
Keywords Energy-proficient hydrolysis · Waste pineapple skin · Amberlyst 15
catalyst · Taguchi optimization · Infrared radiation
1 Introduction
Lignocellulosic biomass (LB), comprises cellulose (40–50%), hemicelluloses (30–
40%), and lignin (20–30%). Cellulose hydrolysis plays an important key technology
for the synthesis of RS from naturally abundant LB such as wood waste, agricultural
crops, and fruit processing industries, i.e., waste pineapple skin (WPS) (Seker and
Zain 2014; Zain et al. 2010), and cotton straw (Yang et al. 2013). Many industrially
important chemicals such as bioethanol, furfural, HMF, and levulinic acid can be
derived from RS (Limayem and Ricke 2012; Huber et al. 2006; Palmqvist and HahnHägerdal 2000).
Homogeneous alkaline hydrolysis has some disadvantages, viz., long reaction time and high alkali concentrations (Kucuk and Demirbas 1999). Hydrolysis
catalyzed by homogeneous acid for synthesis of RS from cellulose suffers from
several drawbacks, i.e., leaching, handling, corrosions and generation of hazardous
waste streams, and long reaction time (Orozco et al. 2007). In the last few years,
S. Chatterjee · S. K. Bhattacharjee · R. Roy · R. Chakraborty (B)
Chemical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
e-mail: rajat.chakraborty@jadavpuruniversity.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D. Ramkrishna et al. (eds.), Advances in Bioprocess Engineering and Technology,
Lecture Notes in Bioengineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7409-2_26
257
Infrared Radiated Rapid Hydrolysis
of Pineapple Skin to Reducing Sugar
Swapnendu Chatterjee, Sayan Kumar Bhattacharjee, Rajdip Roy,
and Rajat Chakraborty
Abstract Waste pineapple skin (WPS) has been hydrolyzed into reducing sugar (RS)
using Amberlyst 15 catalyst. The effects of the application of infrared radiation on the
intensification of hydrolysis of WPS have been evaluated. The Taguchi orthogonal
design determined optimal values of process factors, viz., 70 °C reactor temperature,
30 min batch time, water to WPS ratio (w/w) of 35, and 2 wt% catalyst concentration,
corresponding to maximum 86.78% RS yield employing an infrared radiated batch
reactor (IRRBR). Remarkably, the RS yield in IRRBR was significantly greater than
that obtained (45.62%) using a traditional batch reactor (TBR) at the derived optimal
conditions.
Keywords Energy-proficient hydrolysis · Waste pineapple skin · Amberlyst 15
catalyst · Taguchi optimization · Infrared radiation
1 Introduction
Lignocellulosic biomass (LB), comprises cellulose (40–50%), hemicelluloses (30–
40%), and lignin (20–30%). Cellulose hydrolysis plays an important key technology
for the synthesis of RS from naturally abundant LB such as wood waste, agricultural
crops, and fruit processing industries, i.e., waste pineapple skin (WPS) (Seker and
Zain 2014; Zain et al. 2010), and cotton straw (Yang et al. 2013). Many industrially
important chemicals such as bioethanol, furfural, HMF, and levulinic acid can be
derived from RS (Limayem and Ricke 2012; Huber et al. 2006; Palmqvist and HahnHägerdal 2000).
Homogeneous alkaline hydrolysis has some disadvantages, viz., long reaction time and high alkali concentrations (Kucuk and Demirbas 1999). Hydrolysis
catalyzed by homogeneous acid for synthesis of RS from cellulose suffers from
several drawbacks, i.e., leaching, handling, corrosions and generation of hazardous
waste streams, and long reaction time (Orozco et al. 2007). In the last few years,
S. Chatterjee · S. K. Bhattacharjee · R. Roy · R. Chakraborty (B)
Chemical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
e-mail: rajat.chakraborty@jadavpuruniversity.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D. Ramkrishna et al. (eds.), Advances in Bioprocess Engineering and Technology,
Lecture Notes in Bioengineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7409-2_26
257