Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Exhibit Hall
Due to the recalcitrant structure of lignocellulosic biomass, pretreatment of lignocellulose is a prerequisite to make cellulose more accessible to cellulases for the release of fermentable sugars. Most pretreatment processes require a pretreatment temperature of ≥ 130 °C and pressurised reactors, which inevitably increases energy consumption, equipment cost and as a result, the total production cost. Therefore, atmospheric pressure, low temperature pretreatment processes offer the opportunity to significantly reduce the process cost.
In this study, pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass at low temperature (< 100 °C) and atmospheric pressure was assessed using acidified solvents. Pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse with the solvents in the presence of sulphuric acid at a temperature of 90 °C for only 30 min resulted in glucan digestibilities of > 85%. The type and ratio of the solvents used had significant impacts on pretreatment effectiveness. The synergistic effects of the solvent mixtures resulting in improved glucan digestibility was attributed to delignification, fibre size reduction and defibrillation, which were confirmed by biomass composition analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).