URBANREC

Waste biomass composed of cork-rich and phloem-rich granules obtained from the fractioning of Quercus cerris L. bark were characterized for bulk density, chemical composition, bio-active components, ash composition, and higher heating value.

Bulk density of the fractions relate to their cork content and deceases with smaller particle size due to a cork enrichment in the finer particles. The bulk density may therefore be used as an indicator of suberin content of waste cork and phloem fractions. Waste cork fractions are rich sources of lipophilic and polar extracts while waste phloem fractions contain high amount of polar extracts. The polar extracts of both biomass fractions showed very high antioxidant capacities with IC50 values between 2.5 and 7.3??g extract mL-1 for cork fractions and 5.8 and 11.7??g extract mL-1 for phloem fractions.

Higher heating values in waste cork fractions increase with decreasing particle size and ranged between 20 and 22?MJ?kg-1. A biorefinery scheme was developed for the valorization of the waste cork and phloem fractions based on their physical, chemical, bioactive, and higher heating values.

» Author: Ali Sen, Isabel Miranda, Bruno Esteves, Helena Pereira

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