Investigation of the pellets produced from sugarcane bagasse during liquid hot water pretreatment and their impact on the enzymatic hydrolysis.

In the process of liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment, there are numbers of pellets formed on the lignocellulosic surface. The characteristics and effect of pellets on the enzymatic hydrolysis of LHW-treated sugarcane bagasse (SCB) were investigated. After SCB was treated with LHW at 180°C, the pellets deposited on the surface of solid residues were extracted gently with 1% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. They were composed of 81.0% lignin, 7.0% glucan, and 3.2% xylan. The LHW pretreatment solution (PS) was sprayed to the filter paper, and the pellets were observed on its surface. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) data showed that lignin was also the main component of the PS pellets. The effect of the pellets on enzymatic hydrolysis was chiefly attributed to the steric hindrance, not the cellulase adsorption. The structural characteristics of LHW-treated SCB might play a more important role in influencing the enzymatic hydrolysis than the pellets.

Wang W ，Zhuang X ，Yuan Z ，Yu Q ，Qi W ... -  《-》

Effects of different pretreatment methods on chemical composition of sugarcane bagasse and enzymatic hydrolysis.

Different pretreatment processes, including liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) pretreatment, and their combinative pretreatments, were conducted to improve the enzymatic digestibility and sugar recovery from sugarcane bagasse (SCB). LHW pretreatment solubilized over 82% of xylan and 42% of lignin, after which the SCB presented the poorest enzymatic digestibility. NaOH pretreatment could remove 78% of lignin and retain most of glucan. For combinative pretreatments, the sequence of two procedures had a significant effect on the chemical composition, substrate characteristic and the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis process. LHW-NaOH pretreatment could solubilize over 92% of xylan and remove 76% of lignin, and the highest total sugar recovery of 73% was achieved after 72 h enzymatic hydrolysis. While NaOH-LHW pretreatment, which could remove nearly 84% of lignin, but only solubilize 71% of xylan, showed the highest enzymatic digestibility. The pretreatment efficiency was: NaOH-LHW>NaOH>LHW-NaOH>LHW.

Gao Y ，Xu J ，Zhang Y ，Yu Q ，Yuan Z ，Liu Y ... -  《-》

Liquid hot water pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse and its comparison with chemical pretreatment methods for the sugar recovery and structural changes.

Liquid hot water (LHW), dilute hydrochloric acid (HCl) and dilute sodium hydroxide (NaOH) were applied to sugarcane bagasse (SB). Application of the same analytical methods and material balance approaches facilitated meaningful comparisons of glucose and xylose yields from combined pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. All pretreatments enhanced sugar recovery from pretreatment and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis substantially compared to untreated sugarcane bagasse. Adding Tween80 in the enzymatic hydrolysis process increased the conversion level of glucan/xylan by 0.3-fold, especially for the low pH pretreatment where more lignin was left in the solids. The total sugar recovery from sugarcane bagasse with the coupled operations of pretreatment and 72 h enzymatic digestion reached 71.6% for LHW process, 76.6% for HCl pretreatment and 77.3% for NaOH pretreatment. Different structural changes at the plant tissue, cellular, and cell wall levels might be responsible for the different enzymatic digestibility. Furthermore, a combined LHW and aqueous ammonia pretreatment was proposed to reduce energy input and enhance the sugar recovery.

Yu Q ，Zhuang X ，Lv S ，He M ，Zhang Y ，Yuan Z ，Qi W ，Wang Q ，Wang W ，Tan X ... -  《-》

Pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse with liquid hot water and aqueous ammonia.

Low water consumption operation (LWCO) can reduce the usage of water and energy input for the liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse (SB) but causes great negative effects on the saccharification rate of xylose and enzymatic digestibility (ED) of cellulose. Therefore, a combined pretreatment with LHW and aqueous ammonia (LHWAA) was developed. ED of glucan and xylan is enhanced greatly resulted from the removal of hemicellulose and lignin after the LHWAA pretreatment. However, the intriguing results of low lignin removal and ED value were observed at the high reaction temperature of 180°C for the second step pretreatment of AA. It was proposed that lignin or pseudo-lignin droplet redeposited on the surface of residual solids might play a crucial role in determining the ED, so it is indispensable to make the enzyme access to the cellulose by the step of post-treatment with ultrasonic washing or hot washing. Coupled with the process of post-treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis, a high hemicellulose derived sugars recovery of 75.5% and glucose recovery of 87% was obtained for LHWAA pretreatment.

Yu Q ，Zhuang X ，Yuan Z ，Qi W ，Wang W ，Wang Q ，Tan X ... -  《-》

Lignin prepared from different alkaline pretreated sugarcane bagasse and its effect on enzymatic hydrolysis.

Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) was pretreated by sodium hydroxide (SH), alkaline ethanol (AE) and alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP), and the solid residue with similar lignin content after different pretreatment was selected. Enzymatic saccharification with different substrates was performed at 2%, 10%, and 20% (w/v) solid loading. After that, the lignin from different substrate was extracted and its structure was characterized. Furthermore, the adsorption capability of isolated lignin to cellulase and its effect on enzymatic hydrolysis were studied. The results showed that, as the substrate content increased from 2% (w/v) to 20% (w/v), the glucose yield after digestion of SH, AE, and AHP pretreated SCB reduced by 41.8%, 35.4%, and 28.7%, respectively. The inhibitory effect of different prepared lignin on the digestibility of Avicel was as follows, SH pretreated lignin (SHL) > cellulase enzymatic hydrolysis lignin (CEL) > AE pretreated lignin (AEL) > AHP pretreated lignin (AHPL), which exhibited positive correlation with its non-productive adsorption capability to cellulase. Lignin samples with low negative zeta potential, high hydrophobicity and high ration of syringyl (S) to guaiacyl (G) were unfavorable for the enzymatic saccharification of cellulose.

Xu C ，Zhang J ，Zhang Y ，Guo Y ，Xu H ，Liang C ，Wang Z ，Xu J ... -  《-》