Optimization of selective acidolysis pretreatment for the valorization of wheat straw by a combined chemical and enzymatic process

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDAdvances in industrial biotechnology offer potential opportunities for economic utilization of abundantly available agricultural crop waste such as wheat straw, which is of great interest for advancement in xylo‐oligosaccharides (XOS) and fermentable monosaccharides. In the present study, crude XOS and fermentable monosaccharides were sequentially produced by a combined chemical and enzymatic process from wheat straw.RESULTSMaximum yield of XOS was 38.2% and the corresponding yield of glucose was 82.7% despite the wax barrier on the surface of wheat straw, while the acetic acid concentration was decreased from 20% to 5%. Pilot scale run produces 91.6 g XOS, 92.5 g xylose and 316.0 g glucose from 1000 g of wheat straw that means the utilization of 78.9% of xylan and 89.7% glucan constitutes.CONCLUSIONBy removal of 65% xylan from wheat straw, enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose was also improved efficiently although its polymer structure was almost kept inert during acetic acid pretreatment. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry