Comparison of bench-scale decortication devices to fractionate bran from sorghum

Evaluation of arabinoxylan isolated from sorghum bran, biomass, and bagasse for film formation

Arabinoxylans (AX) are potential agricultural co-products for material applications. Sorghum has seen increased production as a bioenergy crop for biofuel and co-product generation. AX from three sorghum fractions (bran, bagasse, and biomass) were isolated to study film formation. All three AX fractions exhibited high moisture sensitivity. Sorghum biomass AX produced low water vapor permeability compared to sorghum bran or sorghum bagasse AX films. Glycerol addition to sorghum bran AX films reduced tensile strength from 34.8 to 16.0 MPa at 0% and 10% (w/w) glycerol, respectively; reduced the storage and loss moduli during dynamic mechanical analyses at 50% relative humidity (RH) and decreased the rubber-to-plastic material transition temperature at 50% RH, from 78.1 °C to 38.4 °C at 0 and 10% (w/w) glycerol, respectively. Sorghum bran AX, while sensitive to water absorption at high RH, produced favorable strength performance compared to AX from other cereal grains indicating potential utilization as a renewable material.