Effect of Fenton and photo‐Fenton pretreatments on solubilization of lignocellulosic biomass

Non‐edible lignocellulosic biomass materials are attracting increasing attention as renewable, economical, and abundant resources to reduce dependency on petroleum resources and minimize energy and material feedstock costs. Despite their potential, the complex and rigid structures of these materials limit their use in such applications. Biomass materials must first be broken down into components with smaller molecular weights (e.g., oligo‐ and monosaccharides) in order to be efficiently converted into a wide range of value‐added products. Hydrolysates from biomass can be used for producing various value‐added products, including biofuels (ethanol, hydrogen, etc.), industrially important chemicals (e.g., solvents), and food products (sugar and sugar alcohols, etc.). Success of using lignocellulosic biomass for biofuels and other useful chemical productions depend largely upon pretreatment and break down methods applied as well as physical and chemical properties of the biomass. The pretreatment is an essential prerequisite to make biomass accessible and reactive by altering its structural features such as, removal of lignin and reduction of cellulose crystallinity, which thereby increases in porosity. The goal of this project was to evaluate Fenton and photo‐Fenton processes as pretreatments methods for biomass (corn stover and corn husk) solubilization and reduce extensive use of toxic and hazardous chemicals or energy inputs in the hydrolysis process. Fenton and Fenton‐UV experiments were carried out in a glass reactor using 100 mL pH=3 solution (HCl). The biomass (2.5g) and 1mmol Fe2+ were added as well as freshly prepared H2O2 solution (3 × 0.7 mmol H2O2; 15 min intervals). In the Fenton‐UV reaction, light source (Pen Ray 254 nm, 40W) was placed in the center of the reactor. Further hydrolysis of Fenton and Fenton‐UV treated samples occurred using mild acid hydrolysis (4% H2SO4) to calculate hydrolysis percentage of each filtered mixture and biomass residue. IR and SEM measurements were performed on solid biomass residue and hydrolysate was analyzed for total organic carbon (TOC) content. The hydrolysis percentage between different pretreatments showed that Fenton in corn stover and corn husk resulted in 3.8% and 1.6% hydrolysis respectively while the Fenton‐UV‐Acid hydrolysis treatment in corn stover and corn husk resulted in 32.4% and 51.8% hydrolysis. From this we concluded that Fenton‐UV‐Acid hydrolysis was the best pretreatment for the solubilization of corn biomass. Support or Funding Information University of Nebraska‐Lincoln: Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experience. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .