Influence des traitements de steam explosion sur la dégradation thermique des fibres de cellulose

The aim of this study is to identify the impact of different steam explosion treatments on the thermal
degradation of cellulose fibers. The intensities of the treatments were defined by a severity
factor (SF), based on the residence time and the process temperature. The results obtained show that
thermal degradation of cellulose fibers is limited when the severity factor value is below 4.0. At higher
intensities, determination of thermal degradation products shows a significant increase of the
hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) amount when increasing the intensity of the treatment. When the
severity factor reached 5.2, TGA analysis shows that the increase of degradation products is coupled to an
increase of the char level meaning a strong degradation of the cellulose.