Effect of ultrasound assisted alkali pretreatment of quinoa waste toreduce wash water usage

Biofuels as an alternative for fossil fuels, always has been examined [۱].Comparing both bio-based and fossil fuels, brings each step to optimization and costcontrolling, while considering environmental linkages. One of the important steps isto control wash water usage (WWU) of process, in which, the efficiency shouldremain intact [۲]. Since major water needed steps, such as solid to liquid ratio duringpretreatment, or hydrolysis are fixed most times, in this study the main focus is onWWU of pretreated samples to achieve pH ۷. Various strategies are applied, reducingchemical usage during pretreatment, addition of counteractive solution, e.g. addingacid to alkali pretreatment diminishes pH faster. However, using chemicals to reducepH may cause unwanted changes in biomass structure. Ultrasonication (US) is aphysical method which enhance biomass structural degradation and improvesreducing recalcitrance of lignocellulosic composition. The synergistic effects of USon widening pore size of lignocellulosic structure, brought up the idea of reducingWWU of pretreatment process. Hopefully, in this paper, reliable and important resultswere recorded. At least ۶۰% of water usage reduced, which means near ۶ step out of۱۰ step of sample washing faded. This WWU reduction, shows off the importance ofthis research in upscale operating units where each cost effective strategies should beexamined and applied.