Abstract
Wheat straw is an easily affordable, cost-effective and natural source of antioxidants and cellulose, but its full potential is not yet utilized. In the present investigation, an auto-hydrolytic process was applied to recover both antioxidant phenolic compounds and cellulose from wheat straw. Two three-step acid/alkaline fractionation processes were applied differing for the first step: a conventional mild acid hydrolysis or an auto-hydrolysis. The liquors from the first step were analyzed for the recovery of antioxidants, while the final residues from the whole process were analyzed for cellulose yield and purity. The auto-hydrolysis process led to a higher yield in antioxidants but also in sugars (glucose and xylose) and sugar degradation products (5-HMF, 5-MF, furfural) than the acid hydrolysis process. The overall cellulose recovery (about 45% g/100 gcellulose wheat straw dm) and purity was comparable in the two processes; therefore, the auto-hydrolysis-based process could be recommended as a potentially more environmentally friendly process to recover antioxidants and cellulose from wheat straw for different applications. Finally, a first study on the optimization of hydrolysis step was provided from the point of view of improving the cellulose yield, monitoring the sugars release during both the acid hydrolysis and the auto-hydrolysis process.
Highlights
Wheat straw (WS) is an agricultural residue from wheat grass (Triticum aestivum L.) that presents many interesting characteristics that facilitate its biotechnological upgrade in a bio-refinery framework [1]
Wheat straw showed a 5.85 ± 0.73% moisture content and a content of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin of 33.78 ± 0.20%, 19.47 ± 0.22% and 21.53 ± 0.73%, respectively, that is in line with the average values reported in the literature [49]
Auto-hydrolysis resulted as being more effective in separating cell-wall bound phenolic compounds, antioxidants and cellulose from WS sample than conventional acid hydrolysis
Summary
Wheat straw (WS) is an agricultural residue from wheat grass (Triticum aestivum L.) that presents many interesting characteristics that facilitate its biotechnological upgrade in a bio-refinery framework [1]. It is an herbaceous crop, soft material that can be transported in relatively high-density form and typically has a low water content (i.e., about 6–8%) [2] that enables its easy. Sci. 2020, 10, 6112 storage [3] It is a very abundant material and it does not present an excessive commercial value (about 97 USD/ton) [4]. Despite the production showed a slightly decrease in 2018, these amounts are significant enough to consider WS as a complementary source in the production of fibers and antioxidants
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