Optimization of agricultural waste reuse processes: a contribution to the production of bioproducts

Abstract

The use of wastes obtained from industrial processes is essential to reduce environmental pollution. In countries where agricultural production is a very important activity, the amount of waste derived from these processes is very large, so reducing this amount is an important benefit. The objective of this work is to present an optimization process for the reuse of agricultural process wastes, such as rice husks and corn stover, to obtain furfural, a chemical compound of great industrial importance due to its multiple applications, and also because it is a bioactive agent. This process contemplated several variables in order to obtain the best results, giving as a result that the conditions that the industry should apply to obtain a higher yield are that the milling should be very fine to obtain very small particles; the concentration of acidity should be around 15 %; the resting time period should be around 12 hours for small particles and 24 h for intermediate particles, which will depend on the material used for the synthesis, as well as the agitation speed, and using a temperature between 200-250 °C, thus facilitating the hydrolysis of the pentoses, where the furfural production process will be enriched with high percentages of production in the long term

Keywords: bioproducts; reuse, contamination; furfural