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Development of Processes for the Extraction of Industrial Grade Rubber and Co-Products from the Roots of Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TK)

Ramirez Cadavid, David A.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1512060296142347

Abstract Details

2017, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
Natural rubber (NR) is a raw material vital to the modern economy produced from a single plant species (Hevea brasiliensis) and the supply of which is insecure. Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TK) is an ideal rubber-producing crop because it synthesizes high quality rubber with similar composition, molecular characteristics, and mechanical properties to hevea NR. Extensive research on the development of TK as a commercially feasible crop is underway. Nonetheless, little research has been done on processing for the recovery of rubber, and byproducts. In this work, a comprehensive compositional analysis of field harvested TK roots was conducted to identify components that may have commercial value. Based on this analysis, new aqueous processes for the extraction of NR from TK roots that feature the use of alkaline pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis were investigated. Likewise, these processes were compared to wet milling treatments in order to identify those that result in NR of high purity, yield, and quality. Furthermore, alkaline pretreatment of TK roots at temperatures between 25 and 160°C, and NaOH loadings from 33 to 132 mg NaOH/g TK roots, was further studied to identify its impact on rubber yield, purity, and quality. Additionally, reliable methods to quantify primary TK root components were developed to allow the analysis of the large numbers of samples produced in the development of TK roots. The compositional analysis mass closure was greater than 95%. The roots contained 5.4% rubber and 1.7% resins. 60% of the root was hot water extractable. Inulin (18%) and proteins (10%) were the most abundant water-soluble fractions. Insoluble components included cellulose 9%, hemicellulose 7%, lignin 5%, protein 5% and pectin 3%. Based on the compositional analysis and current TK field plant density data, potential yields of various biobased products were calculated. Results indicated that TK is a potential source of NR and other products of importance such as inulin and proteins. Rubber extraction from TK roots by enzymatic hydrolysis, and alkaline pretreatment followed by enzymatic digestion showed higher rubber yield compared to wet milling treatments. In the best case, high quality rubber was recovered at a yield greater than 80% and more than 99% purity. TK NR molecular masses and their distribution, thermal properties, and composition were similar among best treatments, and comparable to those of hevea NR. Further investigation of alkaline pretreatment revealed that elevated sodium hydroxide loading and temperature increased rubber yield, while reducing rubber gel and molecular weights, and increasing their distribution. Rubber purity and thermal properties were not affected. FTIR analysis indicated that alkaline pretreatment modified non-rubber components. Efficient and accurate methods for the quantification of inulin, resins, and rubber from TK roots required accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) with hot water, acetone at low temperature and hexane at high temperature, respectively. It was shown that root milling, rubber aggregate size reduction, and small sample size improved resin and rubber content quantification. Finally, it was demonstrated that the quantification of rubber in TK roots is strongly affected by the sequence and types of solvents used, and the temperature of extraction.
Frederick Carl Michel (Advisor)
Katrina Cornish (Advisor)
Ajay Shah (Committee Member)
Thaddeus Ezeji (Committee Member)
230 p.
Agricultural Chemicals; Agricultural Engineering; Chemical Engineering; Engineering; Materials Science; Polymers
Taraxacum kok-saghyz, natural rubber, biorefinery, compositional analysis, inulin, protein, accelerated solvent extraction, wet milling, pretreatment, enzymatic digestion, extraction process

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ramirez Cadavid, D. A. (2017). Development of Processes for the Extraction of Industrial Grade Rubber and Co-Products from the Roots of Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TK) [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1512060296142347

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ramirez Cadavid, David. Development of Processes for the Extraction of Industrial Grade Rubber and Co-Products from the Roots of Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TK) . 2017. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1512060296142347.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ramirez Cadavid, David. "Development of Processes for the Extraction of Industrial Grade Rubber and Co-Products from the Roots of Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TK) ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1512060296142347

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1512060296142347
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© 2017, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Development of Processes for the Extraction of Industrial Grade Rubber and Co-Products from the Roots of Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TK) by David A. Ramirez Cadavid is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.