Importance of lignin removal in enhancing biomass hydrolysis in hot-compressed water

Beech wood was pretreated by ethanol/water mixture or sodium chlorite/acetic acid mixture to prepare two representative samples rich in cellulose/lignin and cellulose/hemicellulose, respectively. These samples were then hydrolysed in hot-compressed water (HCW) using a semi-continuous reactor under optimal conditions where the secondary reactions in the liquid products were minimised. The glucose recovery in the primary liquid products from hydrolysis in HCW is enhanced to similar to 80% for the cellulose/hemicellulose rich sample from similar to 56% for the raw sample, while that for the cellulose/lignin rich sample only increases slightly to similar to 64%. Despite its highest crystallinity index, the cellulose/hemicellulose rich sample achieves the highest glucose recovery at the shortest reaction time during hydrolysis in comparison with the raw and cellulose/lignin rich samples, clearly demonstrating the importance of lignin removal in enhancing hydrolysis reaction rate and sugar recovery during biomass hydrolysis in HCW.