Abstract
Corn is a major food crop with enormous biomass residues for biofuel production. Due to cell wall recalcitrance, it becomes essential to identify the key factors of lignocellulose on biomass saccharification. In this study, we examined total 40 corn accessions that displayed a diverse cell wall composition. Correlation analysis showed that cellulose and lignin levels negatively affected biomass digestibility after NaOH pretreatments at p<0.05 & 0.01, but hemicelluloses did not show any significant impact on hexoses yields. Comparative analysis of five standard pairs of corn samples indicated that cellulose and lignin should not be the major factors on biomass saccharification after pretreatments with NaOH and H2SO4 at three concentrations. Notably, despite that the non-KOH-extractable residues covered 12%–23% hemicelluloses and lignin of total biomass, their wall polymer features exhibited the predominant effects on biomass enzymatic hydrolysis including Ara substitution degree of xylan (reverse Xyl/Ara) and S/G ratio of lignin. Furthermore, the non-KOH-extractable polymer features could significantly affect lignocellulose crystallinity at p<0.05, leading to a high biomass digestibility. Hence, this study could suggest an optimal approach for genetic modification of plant cell walls in bioenergy corn.
Highlights
Lignocellulose has been regarded as a major biomass resource for biofuels and chemicals [1,2]
The non-KOH-extractable residues were sequentially extracted with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) at 120uC for 1 h as non-KOH-extractable hemicelluloses, and the remaining pellet was used as crystalline cellulose
The cellulose contents vary from 19.94% to 38.35% (% dry matter), hemicelluloses from 20.89% to
Summary
Lignocellulose has been regarded as a major biomass resource for biofuels and chemicals [1,2]. Traditional field crops constitute the bulk of lignocellulosic resources, and the application of such materials complements that of food supplies. Lignocellulosic biomass process involves three major steps: physical and chemical pretreatments to disrupt the cell wall; enzymatic hydrolysis to release soluble sugar; and yeast fermentation to produce ethanol. Plant cell wall recalcitrance entails a costly biomass process to produce biofuels [3,4]. Genetic modification of plant cell walls has been proposed as a promising solution in bioenergy crops [9,10,11,12]. The key factors of plant cell walls affecting biomass enzymatic saccharification should be identified in various pretreatment conditions
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
