Comparative evaluation of enzymatic hydrolysis potential of Eichhornia crassipes and sugarcane bagasse for fermentable sugar production

Abstract

In the production of biofuel from biomass, the enzymatic hydrolysis potential (EHP) of feedstock plays a critical role in determining the process’s saccharification efficiency (SE) and economic feasibility. In this study, the artificial biomass of Eichhornia crassipes (EC) and sugarcane bagasse (SB), as well as the actual biomass of EC and SB pretreated by four different chemical methods, were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis. A binary linear-regression equation (BLE), y=β1χ1+β2χ2, was derived to illustrate the relationship between the sugar yield (y) and the proportions of key components (cellulose and hemicellulose) (χ1, χ2) with different compositional contributions (β1 and β2) to y. The EC cellulose was found to make a greater contribution than SB cellulose, resulting in higher SE of EC. Furthermore, the SE of pretreated actual biomasses exhibited similar trends and positive correlation with the predictions, indicating good applicability of the BLE model and highlighting the superior EHP of EC. This study advances the understanding of roles played by key biomass components in the enzymatic hydrolysis process, which informs decisions on the EHP of different types of biomass, facilitating the screening of suitable biomass for enhanced SE and cost-effective biomass-to-energy conversion.