Pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse with acid catalyzed ethylene glycol-water to improve the cellulose enzymatic conversion

In this work, HCl catalyzed ethylene glycol-water pretreatment (HCl/EG-H2O) of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) was explored with response surface methodology (RSM) and single factor analysis, which aim to investigate the influence of pretreatment variable on pretreated solid cellulose enzymatic conversion. The result showed that HCl/EG-H2O pretreatment could selectively extract-89.9 % xylan and-61.2 % lignin in SCB, meanwhile maintain a relatively high cellulose retention (-86.8 %). Pretreatment of SCB at 120 degrees C for 60 min with 1.00 % HCl and 90 % EG obtained the pretreated solid having maximum cellulose enzymatic conversion of 88.7 % under 10 FPU/g enzyme dosage, this enhancement of cellulose enzymatic conversion mainly attributed to structure change of SCB in pretreatment. The adding of enzymatic additives into the hydrolysis process could not only improve hydrolysis efficiency but also lower the enzyme dosage. Besides, the linear relationship between sub-strate characteristic parameters (such cellulose content, lignin removal rate etc.) and cellulose conversion were observed.

Automated summary

This study explored the effect of HCl/EG-H2O pretreatment on the enzymatic conversion of cellulose in sugarcane bagasse. The results showed that the selective extraction of xylan and lignin can be achieved while maintaining high cellulose retention. The addition of enzymatic additives improved hydrolysis efficiency and reduced enzyme dosage. Furthermore, a linear relationship between substrate characteristic parameters and cellulose conversion was observed.