Development and validation of mathematical model of hydrotropic-reactive extraction of lignin

Hydrotropes have been largely explored as reactive extraction agent for lignin separation. In this paper, a mathematical model of hydrotropic-reactive extraction of sugarcane bagasse lignin was proposed and validated by experimental data from literature. The mathematical model was developed by assuming the particle is in slab shape, and by considering simultaneous processes of hydrotrope intra particle diffusion, second order reaction of lignin-hydrotrope, and intra-particle soluble delignification product diffusion. The proposed model results in a set of partial differential equations which were then solved by explicit finite difference approximation method. The mathematical model parameters were determined by fitting the model to the hydrotropic reactive extraction experimental data reported by Ansari and Gaikar (2014). Simulations show that the mathematical model of the hydrotropic-reactive extraction were well fitted to the experimental data with the obtained hydrotrope effective diffusivity (DeA) of 5.0 × 10−11 m2/s, effective diffusivity of soluble lignin product (DeC) of 9.0 × 10−12 m2/s and reaction rate constant (kr) of 1.78 × 10−10 m3/(g.s). It was also observed that the reaction was first order to the hydrotrope (n = 1), and one half order to the lignin (m = 0.5). Meanwhile the pseudo-stoichiometric mass ratio of hydrotrope to lignin was 6.4 g hydrotrope/g lignin.