Fig. 2

Corn stover (CS) deacetylation mass closure of glucan (top left), xylan (top right), lignin (bottom left), and acetate (bottom right). Lignin conversion yield to black liquor is likely overestimated due to the lack of an accurate quantifying method. Acetyl conversion yield is high due to under quantifying acetyl in the raw feedstock. Acetyl is nearly all removed from the solids fraction. Lignin is removed more when the concentration of sodium hydroxide is increased. Most of the glucan and xylan, remain within the insoluble solids fraction. X/Y/Z represents NaOH conc (g/kg)/residence time (min)/disc-refining gap (in.)