Ethanol–water organosolv delignification of liquid hot water (LHW) pretreated sugarcane bagasse enhanced by high–pressure carbon dioxide (HP–CO2).

Organosolv delignification assisted by high–pressure carbon dioxide (HP–CO 2 ), a low cost, non–corrosive and recoverable compound was evaluated as a potential green pretreatment technology for lignin extraction from liquid hot water (LHW) pretreated sugarcane bagasse to produce fermentable sugars in a lignocellulosic biorefinery concept. In this study, LHW pretreated bagasse (180 °C for 20 min with a liquid–to–solid ratio ( LSR ) of 9 (v/w)) was delignified with an ethanol–water mixture (1:1, v/v) and HP–CO 2 as a co–solvent at milder temperatures (111.7–168.3 °C) and times (23.8–66.2 min) at a LSR of 5 (v/w). To evaluate the effects of varying operational conditions on the lignin content and delignification extent, while preserving the glucan fraction, a 2 2 central composite design was used as a factorial planning. Solid fractions with low lignin contents (7.35% and 10.78%) and high delignification extents (82.5% and 72.2%) with good glucan preservations (84.6% and 85.3%) were obtained at 140 °C for 45 min and 111.7 °C for 45 min, respectively. These solid fractions were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis, yielding enzymatic conversions of 60.8% and 63.7%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]