Our project partner HV-Polysaccharides GmbH & Co.KG has developed a hydrothermal aqueous extraction process of beechwood which produces the polysaccharide xylan in a higher quality than ever before thanks to special process control. Thus xylan is suitable for use as a raw material in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
From the gram to the kilogram
To ensure full utilization of the beechwood material, in the XyloSolv project the aqueous xylan extraction was combined with the Organosolv process, an ethanolic pulping of lignocellulose producing high-quality lignin and pulp.
We implemented the sequential extraction at the pilot plants of Fraunhofer CBP for the first time. Individual process steps were optimized to enable the high-yield production of products without any variations in quality. The extraction processes, which have been developed and optimized jointly by all the partners involved, are resource-efficient and environmentally friendly. According to analyses, both the xylan and the organosolv lignin are of high-purity, making them suitable for pharmaceutical, cosmetic or food applications.