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A modified process consisting of an initial mechanical refining (R) followed by a low-alkali (5.5% NaOH) cold caustic extraction (CCE) and finally an endoglucanase (EG) treatment (R-5.5%CCE-EG) was investigated for upgrading paper-grade pulp to dissolving pulp. Results showed that compared to the conventional process (9%CCE-EG), the modified process can decrease the alkali concentration (from 9% to 5.5%) to achieve a similar hemicelluloses removal while simultaneously enhancing the Fock reactivity (from 62.2% to 81.0%). The improved results were due to the fact that the mechanical refining resulted in favorable fiber morphological changes, including increased pore volume/size, water retention value and specific surface area. Consequently, the hemicelluloses removal was enhanced even under the subsequent low-alkali CCE condition. A synergic effect of refining, low alkali concentration and enzymatic activation was responsible for the higher reactivity of resulting dissolving pulp., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Green liquor (Na2S+Na2CO3, GL) pretreatment is a proven pathway to improve the enzymatic saccharification for the production of bioethanol. In this work, the effects of GL pretreatment on the chemical composition and enzymatic digestibility of rice straw at various total titratable alkali (TTA) charge and temperature were investigated. The GL pretreatment showed excellent performance in high polysaccharides retention and delignification selectivity. Under the optimized GL pretreatment condition (4% TTA charge, 20% sulfidity and 140°C), 92.5% of glucan, 82.4% of xylan and 81.6% of arabinan in rice straw were recovered with a delignification of 39.4%. The maximum sugar yields of 83.9%, 69.6% and 78.0%, respectively for glucan, xylan and total sugar, were achieved at the same GL pretreatment condition with an enzyme loading of 40 FPU/g-substrate. The results suggested that GL pretreatment is a practicable method for rice straw to enhance enzymatic saccharification for bioethanol production., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Lignocellulosic biomass can be utilized to produce promising biofuels. In this study, liquid hot water pretreatments were performed to break the intricate structure of sugarcane bagasse, which resists the enzyme accessibility to cellulose. The effects of temperatures and times on the hemicellulose degradation (including the yields of pentoses and hexoses, the proportion of monomers and oligosaccharides, as well as limited inhibitors) and cellulose enzymatic digestibility were evaluated. The results indicated that the maximum xylose yields (combined 3.85 g xylose and 13.21 g xylo-oligosaccharides per 100 g raw material) in prehydrolyzate liquid were obtained at 180 °C and 30 min. Due to the effective removal of hemicellulose, the maximum glucose yield in enzyme hydrolyzate reached 37.27 g per 100 g raw material, representing 90.13% of glucose in the sugarcane bagasse. The maximal total sugars yield (combined prehydrolyzate and enzymatic hydrolyzate) were 53.65 g based on 100 g raw material., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Green liquor consists of sodium carbonate and sodium sulfide and is readily available in any kraft mills. The green liquor pretreatment process for bioethanol production was developed for wood chips. This process uses only proven technology and equipment currently used in a kraft pulp mill and has several additional advantages such as high sugar recovery and concentration, no inhibitive substances produced, as compared to acid-based pretreatment methods. The liquor was used to pretreat corn stover for enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis in bioethanol production. Pulp yield of 70% with 45% lignin removal was achieved under optimized conditions (8% total titratable alkali, 40% sulfidity and 140°C). About 70% of the original polysaccharides were converted into fermentable sugars, using 20 FPU/g-pulp of enzyme in the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. The result indicates that green liquor is a feasible pretreatment to improve the enzymatic saccharification of corn stover for bioethanol production., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Coastal Bermuda grass (GBG) was pretreated using an autohydrolysis process with different temperatures and times, and the pretreated materials were enzymatically hydrolyzed using a mixture of cellulase, xylanase and beta-glucosidase with different enzyme loadings to evaluate sugar yields. Compared with untreated CBG, autohydrolysis pretreatments at all elevated temperatures and residence times tested enhanced enzymatic digestibility of both cellulose and hemicellulose. Increasing the temperature and residence time also helps to solubilize hemicelluloses, with 83.3% of the hemicelluloses solubilized at 170 degrees C for 60 min treatment. However, higher temperatures and longer times resulted in an overall lower sugar recovery when considering monosaccharides in the prehydrolyzate combined with the enzyme hydrolyzate. Autohydrolysis at 150 degrees C for 60 min provided the highest overall sugar yield for the entire process. A total of 43.3 g of sugars, 70% of the theoretical sugar yield, can be generated from 100g CBG, 15.0 g of monosaccharide in the prehydrolyzate and 28.3 g in the enzyme hydrolyzate. The conversion efficiency could be further improved by optimizing enzyme dosages and xylanases:cellulases ratio and pretreatment conditions to minimize sugar degradation.