Deep eutectic solvent with Lewis acid for highly efficient biohydrogen production from corn straw

To boost saccharification and biohydrogen production efficiency from corn straw, Lewis acid enhanced deep eutectic solvent (DES) pretreatment using choline chloride/glycerol was developed. A notable enhancement of the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency from 26.3 % to 87.0 % was acquired when corn straw was pretreated with aqueous DES at 100 degrees C for 5 h using 2.0 wt% AlCl3. A maximum biohydrogen yield of 114.8 mL/g total solids (TS) was achieved in the sequential dark fermentation stage, which was 2.1 times higher than that of the raw feedstock (37.1 mL/g TS). The enhanced efficient conversion was ascribed to the effective removal of lignin and hemicellulose, which led to the bio-accessibility of the straw. This work provides new sights for the rational design of efficient AlCl3 -aided aqueous DES system toward biohydrogen production from lignocellulosic biomass.

Automated summary

By pretreating corn straw with Lewis acid enhanced deep eutectic solvent (DES) using choline chloride/glycerol, both the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency and biohydrogen production were significantly improved. This enhancement can be attributed to the effective removal of lignin and hemicellulose, which increased the bio-accessibility of the straw.