10-06: Enhancement of Total Sugar Yields through Dissolution of Poplar Wood by Water and/or Extremely Low Concentration Acid Flowthrough Pretreatment

Water and/or extremely low concentration acid flowthrough pretreatments are effective methods for dissolution of biomass into hydrolyzate to accumulate high sugar yields and minimize sugar degradations. In this study, poplar wood was pretreated in a flowthrough system for varying conditions (i.e. temperature 220°C~300°C for 0~40 min, acid concentration 0~0.1%, and flow rates 0~100mL/min) to assess effects on yields of hemisugars and cellulosic sugar, and enzymatic hydrolysis of the whole slurries. The observed significant increases in removal of xylan, lignin and cellulose with temperature, acid concentration, and flowrate are inconsistent with predictions by widely-used first order kinetic models. It was found that a kinetic model involving solubility and mass transfer effects could better simulate flowthrough pretreatment data. These new findings provide a more rational explanation for the kinetic changes in pretreatment performance.