Cellulose modification study by e-beam irradiation & its applications

Fossil fuel reserves would be exhausted at the current rate of consumption in the near future. So an alternative renewable energy technique for producing alcohol by fermenting an alcohol spawn of grain has been developed in many countries. Cellulose is not easy to hydrolyze and lignin and hemi-cellulose are bad in accessibility, a manufacturing process is lengthy and not efficient. Therefore there is an urgent need for a manufacturing process that mass production is possible. Three kinds of industrial electron accelerators (400keV 12mA Cockcraft Walton type, 2MeV 50mA ELV type, and lOMeV 3mA Linac Type) and its irradiation facilities including shielding blocks have been designed, fabricated and under construction by the KAPRA (Korea Accelerator and Plasma Research Association). In this paper, we report cellulose modification study for producing biofuel using electron beam irradiation and its applications.