Significantly enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis of waste rice hull through a novel surfactant-based deep eutectic solvent pretreatment

The potential of green solvents, specifically deep eutectic solvents (DESs), has piqued the interest of researchers in the field of lignocellulose pretreatment. To enhance the enzymatic digestion efficiency of waste rice hull (RCH), an effective pretreatment approach was developed using the DES [AA][CATB], which was made with acetic acid (AA) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The results showed that [AA][CATB] improved enzymatic saccharification by 3.7 times compared to raw RCH and efficiently eliminated lignin and removed xylan. The improvement in enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency was then interpreted by a series of characterizations that showed a great morphological changed RCH with an obvious accessibility increase and a lignin surface area and hydrophobicity reduction. This work demonstrates that functional, and easily recoverable DESs have po-tential for improving the efficiency of lignocellulose pretreatment in biorefineries, providing a promising approach for developing green solvents and achieving more sustainable and efficient biorefinery processes.

Automated summary

Researchers have found that deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have the potential to improve lignocellulose pretreatment efficiency. They developed an effective pretreatment approach using the DES [AA][CATB], made with acetic acid (AA) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), which significantly improved enzymatic saccharification and removed lignin and xylan from waste rice hull (RCH). The study also demonstrated the morphological changes in RCH and the reduction in lignin surface area and hydrophobicity as possible reasons for the improved enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency. This work highlights the potential of functional and recoverable DESs in improving the efficiency of lignocellulose pretreatment in biorefineries.