EFFECT OF THE LEVULINIC ESTER ON THE GERMINATION OF LETTUCE (Lactuca sativa) AND SESAME (Sesamum indicum) SEEDS
methyl levulinate, levulinic acid, heterogeneous catalysis, lignocellulosic biomass, germination
Chemical products, materials and fuels based on biomass present themselves as an alternative to the economic and environmental issues related to the reduction of consumption of fossil sources. Through biorefining, lignocellulosic biomass can be transformed into valuable and promising chemical platforms. Among them, Levulinic Acid (LA) emerges as a building block whose derivatives, in particular, Levulinic Esters (ELs) demonstrate themselves as potential direct substitutes for petrochemicals. Methyl Levulinate (ML) is one of them and is part of a set of substances whose improvement of production and separation processes is a technological challenge. Adding the need to verify the possible environmental impacts of this product. In this context, this work aims to produce methyl levulinate (ML) from the esterification reaction of levulinic acid obtained from biomass originating from agroindustrial residues and to investigate the consequences of its application in seeds. In the first part of the work, the esterification reaction between levulinic acid and methanol with heterogeneous catalyst will be analyzed, executed following an experimental Box-Behnken-type planning of four factors to evaluate the effects of temperature, time, acid:alcohol molar ratio and catalyst concentration. In the second part, the effect of levulinic ester will be verified, from germination and vigor tests, when increased in several concentrations in the water of the germination process of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and sesame (Sesamum indicum) seeds. Therefore, the optimization of the synthesis conditions of methyl levulinate with heterogeneous catalysis and the description of the implications in the germination of lettuce and sesame seeds are sought.