Dr YUJIE MAO's Outputs (8)

Comparisons of alkali, organosolv and deep eutectic solvent pre-treatments on the physiochemical changes and lignin recovery of oak and pine wood (2025)
Journal Article
Mao, Y., Tarhanli, I., Owen, G., Siah Lee, C., Senses, E., & Binner, E. (2025). Comparisons of alkali, organosolv and deep eutectic solvent pre-treatments on the physiochemical changes and lignin recovery of oak and pine wood. Industrial Crops and Products, 226, Article 120614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2025.120614

Pre-treatment is a crucial and the most energy-intensive step for successful valorisation of lignocellulosic biomass in a biorefinery. This study provides systematic comparisons of the biomass fractionation and physiochemical changes of oak and pine... Read More about Comparisons of alkali, organosolv and deep eutectic solvent pre-treatments on the physiochemical changes and lignin recovery of oak and pine wood.

Towards a scalable cacao pod husk biorefinery: Understanding the effects of process conditions on phenolic antioxidant extraction and residual solid properties (2024)
Journal Article
Dewi, S. R., Stevens, L. A., Anwar, M., Mao, Y., Ferrari, R. S., Irvine, D. J., & Binner, E. R. (2025). Towards a scalable cacao pod husk biorefinery: Understanding the effects of process conditions on phenolic antioxidant extraction and residual solid properties. Chemical Engineering Science, 305, Article 121171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2024.121171

Cacao pod husk (CPH) is a potential source of phenolic-based antioxidants and lignocellulosic compounds. Sample pretreatments and extraction conditions were investigated to understand their effects on extraction yields and implications for industrial... Read More about Towards a scalable cacao pod husk biorefinery: Understanding the effects of process conditions on phenolic antioxidant extraction and residual solid properties.

Influence of ripening stage on the microwave-assisted pectin extraction from banana peels: A feasibility study targeting both the Homogalacturonan and Rhamnogalacturonan-I region. (2024)
Journal Article
Mao, Y., Dewi, S. R., Harding, S. E., & Binner, E. (2024). Influence of ripening stage on the microwave-assisted pectin extraction from banana peels: A feasibility study targeting both the Homogalacturonan and Rhamnogalacturonan-I region. Food Chemistry, 460(Pt 1), Article 140549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.140549

This work investigated a sustainable and efficient approach of pectin extraction for banana peel waste valorisation and studied the influence of banana ripening stages (RS at 2,5 and 7). Although pectin content in banana peel raw material decreased d... Read More about Influence of ripening stage on the microwave-assisted pectin extraction from banana peels: A feasibility study targeting both the Homogalacturonan and Rhamnogalacturonan-I region..

Current status of microwave-assisted extraction of pectin (2023)
Journal Article
Mao, Y., Robinson, J. P., & Binner, E. R. (2023). Current status of microwave-assisted extraction of pectin. Chemical Engineering Journal, 473, Article 145261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.145261

There is an urgent need to develop new pectin extraction processes, as the established commercial extraction process damages the pectin (limiting the potential product applications) and is harmful to the environment. Microwave-Assisted Extraction cou... Read More about Current status of microwave-assisted extraction of pectin.

Lignin recovery from cocoa bean shell using microwave-assisted extraction and deep eutectic solvents (2023)
Journal Article
Mao, Y., Gerrow, A., Ray, E., Perez, N. D., Edler, K., Wolf, B., & Binner, E. (2023). Lignin recovery from cocoa bean shell using microwave-assisted extraction and deep eutectic solvents. Bioresource Technology, 372, Article 128680. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2023.128680

Lignin is the second most abundant natural polymer after cellulose, and valorisation of lignin-rich streams has attracted increasing attention recently. This paper presents a novel and sustainable method to recover lignin from Cocoa Bean Shells (CBS)... Read More about Lignin recovery from cocoa bean shell using microwave-assisted extraction and deep eutectic solvents.

Understanding heat and mass transfer processes during microwave-assisted and conventional solvent extraction (2021)
Journal Article
Mao, Y., Robinson, J., & Binner, E. (2021). Understanding heat and mass transfer processes during microwave-assisted and conventional solvent extraction. Chemical Engineering Science, 233, Article 116418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2020.116418

Solvent extraction is a mass transfer process. In this paper, we investigate the role of heat transfer in solvent extraction: in particular, how the heat transfer properties of the solid and the heating method (conventional heating and microwave heat... Read More about Understanding heat and mass transfer processes during microwave-assisted and conventional solvent extraction.

Investigating the influence of pectin content and structure on its functionality in bio-flocculant extracted from okra (2020)
Journal Article
Millett, R., Mao, Y., Millet, R., Lee, C. S., Yakubov, G., Harding, S. E., & Binner, E. (2020). Investigating the influence of pectin content and structure on its functionality in bio-flocculant extracted from okra. Carbohydrate Polymers, 241, Article 116414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116414

© 2020 The Author(s) Okra extract is known to have potential application as a bio-flocculant for wastewater treatment. However, no research to date has given insight into the components responsible for the flocculating ability of okra extract or its... Read More about Investigating the influence of pectin content and structure on its functionality in bio-flocculant extracted from okra.

Development of a continuous-flow system for microwave-assisted extraction of pectin-derived oligosaccharides from food waste (2020)
Journal Article
Arrutia, F., Adam, M., Mao, Y., Ángel Calvo-Carrascal, M., & Binner, E. (2020). Development of a continuous-flow system for microwave-assisted extraction of pectin-derived oligosaccharides from food waste. Chemical Engineering Journal, 395, Article 125056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2020.125056

This paper addresses the current lack of a scalable process for the extraction of “hairy” pectins to upcycle biomasses, by describing the design methodology, building and testing of a continuous microwave-assisted process for potato waste pectin extr... Read More about Development of a continuous-flow system for microwave-assisted extraction of pectin-derived oligosaccharides from food waste.