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The Effect of Alkaline Pretreatment Methods on Cellulose Structure and Accessibility
Author(s) -
Bali Garima,
Meng Xianzhi,
Deneff Jacob I.,
Sun Qining,
Ragauskas Arthur J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201402752
Subject(s) - cellulose , chemistry , hemicellulose , sodium hydroxide , cellulase , lignin , degree of polymerization , ammonia , hydrolysis , lime , enzymatic hydrolysis , depolymerization , sodium , polysaccharide , nuclear chemistry , polymerization , polymer , organic chemistry , materials science , metallurgy
Abstract The effects of different alkaline pretreatments on cellulose structural features and accessibility are compared and correlated with the enzymatic hydrolysis of Populus . The pretreatments are shown to modify polysaccharides and lignin content to enhance the accessibility for cellulase enzymes. The highest increase in the cellulose accessibility was observed in dilute sodium hydroxide, followed by methods using ammonia soaking and lime (Ca(OH) 2 ). The biggest increase of cellulose accessibility occurs during the first 10 min of pretreatment, with further increases at a slower rate as severity increases. Low temperature ammonia soaking at longer residence times dissolved a major portion of hemicellulose and exhibited higher cellulose accessibility than high temperature soaking. Moreover, the most significant reduction of degree of polymerization (DP) occurred for dilute sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and ammonia pretreated Populus samples. The study thus identifies important cellulose structural features and relevant parameters related to biomass recalcitrance.