Characterizations of poplar catkin fibers and their potential for enzymatic hydrolysis

This study focused on poplar (Populus tomentosa) catkin fiber as a new resource for bioethanol production via enzymatic hydrolysis. The poplar catkin fiber was found to have advantages of relatively high alpha-cellulose content (44.5%), and low lignin content (2.9%), which indicated the potential for facile enzymatic hydrolysis. The results indicated that the pretreatment improved the cellulose-to-glucose conversion yield (CGCY), the high concentration alkaline pretreatment resulted in highest CGCY (83.3%), followed by dewaxing (31.5%), dilute alkaline (29.8%), and dilute acid pretreatment (24.4%) after enzymatic hydrolysis with cellulase of 15 filter paper units per gram glucan, while the poplar catkin fiber only achieved 18.7% of CGCY by enzymatic hydrolysis after 48 h at 50 A degrees C without any pretreatment.