Saeed Oladi, Giovanna M. Aita*
Audubon Sugar Institute, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center,
St. Gabriel, LA 70776
*corresponding author: gaita@agcenter.lsu.edu
Energy cane is a hybrid of commercial and wild sugarcanes bred for high fiber content and low sucrose. The polysaccharides (hemicellulose and cellulose) present in the fiber are not readily available for bioconversion into fuels and chemicals. Pretreatment aims at breaking the lignin-carbohydrate structure to make cellulose and hemicellulose available for enzymatic hydrolysis. Liquid hot water (LHW) has been considered as a pretreatment option. LHW pretreatment requires the use of no chemicals, generates less inhibitory compounds and can save on processing costs. In this study, the effect of LHW during the pretreatment of energy cane bagasse was evaluated by monitoring changes in biomass chemical composition (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin), biomass structure (by FTIR, SEM) and enzymatic digestibility.