Monday, May 5, 2008
8-16

Comparative study of corn stover pretreated by dilute acid and cellulose-solvent-based lignocellulose fractionation

Zhiguang Zhu, Biological Systems Engineering Department, Virginia Tech University, 411 Latham Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061 and Y.-H. Percival Zhang, Biological Systems Engineering Department, Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), Virginia Tech University, 210-A Seitz Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061.

Breaking biomass recalcitrance is among the largest obstacles to cellulosic ethanol production because natural biomass and even pretreated biomass have a limited accessibility to cellulase. Quantitative determination of cellulose accessibility to cellulase (CAC) was established based on adsorption of the non-hydrolytic protein TGC containing a cellulose binding domain (CBM) and green fluorescence protein (GFP) (Hong et al. 2007. Langmuir 23: 12535). Here we apply this new technology to measure surface area of cellulose and lignin fractionations of pretreated corn stover by dilute acid and cellulose-solvent-based lignocellulose fractionation (CSLF). The quantitative surface area data show that CSLF can break lignocellulose structure more efficiently than dilute acid, resulting much more surface area of cellulose fractionation. Therefore, the pretreated corn stover by CSLF was hydrolyzed faster with higher sugar yields than dilute-acid treated corn stover. 

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