Hemicellulose cellulose

Raw material Cellulose, % Hemicellulose, % Lignin, % Pectic material, % Extractives, % Reference... 

Chemical Constituents of Cell Wall. Variation in chemical composition across the cell wall is also shown in Figure 6. The principal constituents of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin are present throughout the cell wall but in different proportions. Cellulose is not present in the interfiber middle lamella, which is virtually all lignin. The layer is essentially all carbohydrates (qv), especially hemiceUuloses, having Uttie or no lignin. 

Plant litter consists mainly of sugars, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, waxes, and polyphe-... 

The pectin network.-The second polysaccharide network present in primary cell walls is composed of pectic polysaccharides. The pectin network appears to coexist with the cellulose/hemicellulose network, that is, both networks appear to be able to share the same space [16-19]. However, the proportions of the two networks appear to vary from location to location within a single cell wall as well as from the primary wall of one type of cell to the primary wall of a another type of cell [9,20-22]. 

Our two network model of the primary wall receives support from a variety of indirect observations. For example it has been shown Aat when a cell wall is regenerated by a carrot protoplast a homogalacturonan/ rhamnogalacturonan shell is laid down first, through which the cellulose/ hemicellulose network is later intercalated (8). Further evidence that pectin may form an independent network is seen in the fact that walls from suspension-cultured cells of tofnato Lycopersicon esculentum VF 36),... 

The primary walls of growing plant cells are composed of 90% carbohydrate and 10% protein (51). Carbohydrate in the primary wall is present predominantly as cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. The pectic polysaccharides, are defined as a group of cell wall polymers containing a-l,4-linked D-galactosyluronic acid residues (62,76). Pectic polysaccharides are a major component of the primary cell waU of dicots (22-35%), arc abundant in gymnosperms and non-graminaceous monocots, and are present in reduced amounts (-10%) in the primary walls of the graminaceae (27,62). 

Plant cell walls provide the obvious functions of stmctural support and integrity and can vary tremendously in size, shape, composition and stmcture depending on cell type, age and function within the plant body. Despite this diversity, plant cell walls are composed of only three major classes of polysaccharides cellulose, hemicellulose and pectins. Pectins, or polyuronides, are imbedded throughout the cell wall matrix and are particularly abundant in the middle lamella region. Pectins generally account for 10-30% of the cell wall dry weight and... 

The plant cell wall is a polymeric mesh consisting of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin and protein. Cellulose and hemicellulose are integral components of the cell wall, but pectic substances are located mainly in the outer wall regions within the middle lamella (McNeil et ai, 1984). Pectic substances are more susceptible to enzymatic degradation, because they are more exposed than other cell wall components. Therefore, pectin-degrading enzymes may play a central role in the penetration of plant tissue by bacteria. 

Since many years, pectolytic enzymes have been widely used in industrial beverage processing to improve either the quality and the yields in fruit juice extraction or the characteristics of the final product [1,2]. To this purpose, complex enzymatic mixtures, containing several pectolytic enzymes and often also cellulose, hemicellulose and ligninolytic activities, are usually employed in the free form. The interactions among enzymes, substrates and other components of fruit juice make the system very difficult to be investigated and only few publications are devoted to the study of enzymatic pools [3-5], An effective alternative way to carry out the depectinisation process is represented by the use of immobilized enzymes. This approach allows for a facile and efficient enzymatic reaction control to be achieved. In fact, it is possible to avoid or at least to reduce the level of extraneous substances originating from the raw pectinases in the final product. In addition, continuous processes can be set up. 

Plant cell walls are constructed from cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectins with varying amounts of lignin, tannins, gums, proteins, minerals,... 

Wood is a composite material that is made, up basically of a mixture of three main constituents, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin (see Textbox 54), all of them biopolymers synthesized by the plants, which differ from one another in composition and structure (see Textbox 58). The physical properties of any type of wood are determined by the nature of the tree in which the wood grows, as well as on the environmental conditions in which the tree grows. Some of the properties, such as the density of wood from different types of trees, are extremely variable, as can be appreciated from the values listed in Table 71. No distinctions as to the nature of a wood, whether it is a hardwood or a softwood, for example, can be drawn from the value of its specific gravity. 

Such activation energies of abiotic heat release for lignocellu-losic material have recently been summarized and and compared in detail by Kubler (14). These activation energies in the range from 120°C to 220°C, when air is present, usually are between 60 and 115 kJ/mole, i.e. 15 to 30 kcal/mole (14). Activation energies for the delignified cellulose-hemicellulose material presented here are at the lower end of this range. 

J. E. Courtois, C. Chararas, M. M. Debris, and H. Laurant-Hube, Symp. Intern. Chim. Biochim. Lignine, Cellulose, Hemicelluloses, Grenoble (1964). 

The components of the plant cell wall (8-21) are the middle lamella (intercellular substance), the primary wall, and the secondary wall. The middle lamella is the pectic layer between cells and holds adjoining cells together as do membrane carbohydrates. The primary wall is thin (1-3 pm) and flexible containing cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectins, and glycoproteins. This wall provides mechanical strength, maintains cell shape,... 

Wood consists mainly of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin in various proportions. The amounts and compositions of these component groups depend primarily on the wood species [38]. 

Pulping process Tree species Cellulose (%) Hemicellulose (%) Lignin (%) Extractives (%) ... 

Figure 1.15 gives an overview of the main constituents of non food biomass. There are three components Cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Cellulose and hemicellulose are built form sugar-type monomers, but their cost-effective isolation through enzymatic depolymerization remains a challenge. 

Lignocellulose is the fibrous material that forms the cell wall of a plants architecture . It consists of three major components (Fig. 2.1) cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin [3, 14-16]. It contrasts with the green parts of the plants and the seeds, which are rich in proteins, starch and/or oil. 

To break up cellulose/hemicellulose, it is treated physically (milling), with heat, and hydrolyzed (sulfuric acid + enzymes). Also in this case, improved (bio)cata-lytic hydrolysis processes for cellulose/hemicellulose are needed. The sugar can then serve as feedstock for standard fermentation plants. 

New biocatalysts (genetically modified bacteria) could break up cellulose/ hemicellulose, but it is necessary, on one hand, to decrease the cost of enzyme production and, on the other hand, to improve reactor and process technology,... 

Fourth lesson - combination of different compounds in unique macrostructure provides unique performance properties. Starch is used extensively in nature to store carbon and energy. Starch is readily digested and must be protected from degradation by a resistant coating, for example, a seed (e.g. com, wheat or rice) or a skin (e.g. potato). Woody materials such as trees, soft plants and grasses are composed of a complex combination of aliphatic and aromatic compounds (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin). 

Many of the physical, chemical and biological properties of wood can be understood by referring to the polymeric chemical constituents. In many cases of wood modification, these polymeric components are modified to some extent. The three structural polymeric components of the wood cell wall are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. There are many excellent texts describing the structure and function of these components, and only a brief account is given here. 

Ramiah, M.V. (1970). Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis of cellulose, hemicellulose, undLligmn. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 14(5), 1323-1337. 

Ramiah, M.V. and Goring, D.A.I. (1967). Some dilatomeric measurements of the thermal decomposition of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Cellulose Chemistry and Technology, 1(3), 277-285. 

Agricultural residues (stem, leaves, etc.) currently left in the fields after harvesting are made of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. They are not competing with the feedstock for the food industry. 

Miller, R. S. and Bellan, J. (1997) A generalized biomass pyrolysis model based on superimposed cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin kinetics. Comb. Sci. and Techn., 126, 97-137. 

The basic structure of all wood and woody biomass consists of cellnlose, hemicelluloses, lignin and extractives. Their relative composition is shown in Table 2.4. Softwoods and hardwoods differ greatly in wood stmctnie and composition. Hardwoods contain a greater fraction of vessels and parenchyma cells. Hardwoods have a higher proportion of cellulose, hemicelluloses and extractives than softwoods, but softwoods have a higher proportion of lignin. Hardwoods ate denser than softwoods. 

Unlike cellulose, hemicelluloses consist of different monosaccharide units. In addition, the polymer chains of hemicelluloses have short branches and are amorphous. Because of the amorphous morphology, hemicelluloses are partially soluble... 

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