Electron-Beam Plasma for Biomass Modification

Applications of nonequilibrium low-temperature oxygen electron-beam plasma (EBP) for the controllable processing of biopolymers (crab shell chitosan and softwood lignocellulose) are described. Water-soluble chitooligosaccharides with weight-average molecular mass Mw = 800-2000 Da and polymerization degree varying from dimers to heptamers were obtained after the EBP-stimulated chitosan destruction; trimers being the most predominant. Water solutions of the EBP-produced chitosan oligomers enhanced the seeds germination and stimulated green mass formation in barley Hordeum vulgare. The EBP processing of lignocellulose resulted in its amorphization and formation of additional oxygen containing functional groups at the surface of the biomaterial.