Synergistic Action of Alkalis Improve the Quality Hemicellulose Extraction from Sugarcane Bagasse for the Production of Xylooligosaccharides

Abstract

The present study demonstrates an effective alkaline protocol for the extraction of quality hemicellulose using NaOH and NH4OH combination from sugarcane bagasse for the production of xylooligosaacharides (XOs). For achieving maximum recovery of hemicellulose, the statistical optimization technique was adapted, while considering alkali concentration and temperature, as important process parameters, for all of the alkaline tested protocols like individual or mixed alkalis. The comparative study exposed that mixed alkalis promoted higher recovery of hemicellulose (68% wt xylose), which is relatively higher (up to 1.3-times) than the individual alkali protocols, such that it contained predominantly the xylose (xyl/ara ratio was 3.94) in the form of xylan. In perception, the synergistic action of different alkalis (weak and strong bases) have strongly influenced the selective cleavage of lignin-carbohydrate linkages, thereby enabling the higher release of hemicellulose under the modest reaction conditions (10% alkali conc. and 120 °C). Moreover, the analytical characterization witnessed that it is composed of majorly xylose with less or no undesired residual biomass constituents, including lignin. Upon evaluating the resultant hemicelluloses for XOs production via acidic hydrolysis, the hemicellulose obtained through the mixed alkalis protocol exhibited exceptional, resulting in ~ 13% wt XOs yield with a high degree of polymerization (2–4 units); it is relatively ~ 2.8-times higher than the result of other hemicelluloses. In addition, the formation of gaseous ammonia during the reaction of the mixed alkalis could potentially contribute to the reduction of overall processing cost through recovery and reuse strategy during the large-scale XOs production.