Optimization of liquid ammonia pretreatment conditions for maximizing glucose yield of energycane using response surface methodology

Energycane 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.

This study aimed to optimize dilute ammonia pretreatment processing conditions by evaluating the effect of three pretreatment processing parameters (temperature, residence time and ammonia concentration) on the enzymatic hydrolysis of dilute ammonia-treated energycane bagasse via response surface methodology (RSM). The model fitted by RSM indicated that a higher glucose yield of dilute ammonia-treated biomass could be obtained at higher pretreatment temperatures and ammonia concentration with shorter residence times within the range of design space.