Mechanocatalytic Solvent-Free Esterification of Sugarcane Bagasse

Esterification is a versatile way to produce the derivatives of lignocellulose with developed properties. However, the traditional heterogeneous esterification of lignocellulose suffered from the drawbacks of low efficiency, additional reaction medium and heating. In the present study, an efficient method was developed to produce the functionalized sugarcane bagasse (SCB) by ball milling without any additional solvents and heating. The effects of pulverization time, rotation speed, the kind of linear chain anhydrides, the ratio of anhydrides to SCB, with or without pyridine catalyst and the dosage of catalyst were investigated on weight percent gain (WPG) of SCB esters. The results indicated that the high efficiency of this mechanocatalystic esterification was probably due to the destroyed crystalline structure and the promoted penetration of the esterifying reagent onto SCB bulk caused by ball milling. The maximum WPG of SCB acetate, propionate and butyrate reached 33.3%, 33.6% and 32.4%, respectively. The physicochemical structure of the esterified SCB was characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), solid state cross-polarized magic angle spinning C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (CP/ MAS C-13-NMR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The direct evidence of the esterification occurrence was provided with FT-IR and solid-state CP/ MAS C-13-NMR. The thermal stability of SCB increased upon the mechanocatalytic esterification. The results implied that the relatively homogeneous modification was achieved with this semi-homogeneous esterification method by ball milling.