Severity factor coefficients for subcritical liquid hot water pretreatment of hardwood chips

Synergistic integration of hydrothermal pretreatment and co-digestion for enhanced biogas production from empty fruit bunches in high solids anaerobic digestion

This study investigates the co-digestion of hydrothermally pretreated empty fruit bunches (EFB) at 190 °C for 5 min (HTP190-EFB) with decanter cake (DC) to improve biogas production in high solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD). The HTP190-EFB exhibited a 67.98 % reduction in total solids, along with the production of 0.89 g/L of sugar, 2.39 g/L of VFA, and 0.56 g/L of furfural in the liquid fraction. Co-digestion of HTP190-EFB with DC at mixing ratios of 5, 10, and 15 %w/v demonstrated improved methane yields and process stability compared to mono-digestion of HTP190-EFB. The highest methane yield of 372.69 mL CH4/g-VS was achieved in the co-digestion with 5 %w/v DC, representing a 15 % increase compared to digestion of HTP190-EFB (324.30 mL CH4/g-VS) alone. Synergistic effects were quantified, with the highest synergistic methane yield of 77.65 mL CH4/g-VS observed in the co-digestion with 5 %w/v DC. Microbial community analysis revealed that co-digestion of hydrothermally pretreated EFB with decanter cake promoted the growth of Clostridium sp., Lactobacillus sp., Fibrobacter sp., Methanoculleus sp., and Methanosarcina sp., contributing to enhanced biogas production compared to mono-digestion of pretreated EFB. Energy balance analysis revealed that co-digestion of HTP190-EFB with DC resulted in a total net energy of 599.95 kW, 52 % higher than mono-digestion of HTP190-EFB (394.62 kW). Economic analysis showed a shorter return on investment for the co-digestion system (0.86 years) compared to the mono-digestion of HTP190-EFB (1.02 years) and raw EFB (2.69 years). The co-digestion of HTP190-EFB with 5 %w/v DC offers a promising approach to optimize methane yield, process stability, and economic feasibility, supporting the palm oil industry for producing renewable energy and sustainable waste management.

Understanding acid hydrolysis of corn stover during densification pretreatment for quantitative predictions of enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency using modified pretreatment severity factor

DLCA(sa) pretreatment (densifying lignocellulosic biomass with sulfuric acid followed by autoclave treatment), featured with low treatment temperature and densification, demonstrate high efficiency in biomass pretreatment. In this study, the effects of temperature, acid loading, time on the hydrolysis of xylan, cellulose and lignin during DLCA(sa) pretreatment were systematically investigated. It was shown that DLCA(sa) pretreatment can effectively solubilize xylan, achieving an 84% xylose recovery under mild conditions (130 °C, 30 min, and 0.125 g/g acid loading). The conventional pretreatment severity factor correlated and further modified to improve the accuracy in evaluating the xylan hydrolysis. Additionally, a mathematical model based on the xylan hydrolytic kinetics was proposed to predict the enzymatic hydrolysis. Kinetic model suggested that mechanical densification facilitates the penetration of acid into the biomass matrix, leading to increased accessibility of xylan to acid catalysis.

Investigating the role of AA9 LPMOs in enzymatic hydrolysis of differentially steam-pretreated spruce

BACKGROUND

To realize the full potential of softwood-based forest biorefineries, the bottlenecks of enzymatic saccharification of softwood need to be better understood. Here, we investigated the potential of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMO9s) in softwood saccharification. Norway spruce was steam-pretreated at three different severities, leading to varying hemicellulose retention, lignin condensation, and cellulose ultrastructure. Hydrolyzability of the three substrates was assessed after pretreatment and after an additional knife-milling step, comparing the efficiency of cellulolytic Celluclast + Novozym 188 and LPMO-containing Cellic CTec2 cocktails. The role of Thermoascus aurantiacus TaLPMO9 in saccharification was assessed through time-course analysis of sugar release and accumulation of oxidized sugars, as well as wide-angle X-ray scattering analysis of cellulose ultrastructural changes.

RESULTS

Glucose yield was 6% (w/w) with the mildest pretreatment (steam pretreatment at 210 °C without catalyst) and 66% (w/w) with the harshest (steam pretreatment at 210 °C with 3%(w/w) SO₂) when using Celluclast + Novozym 188. Surprisingly, the yield was lower with all substrates when Cellic CTec2 was used. Therefore, the conditions for optimal LPMO activity were tested and it was found that enough O₂ was present over the headspace and that the reducing power of the lignin of all three substrates was sufficient for the LPMOs in Cellic CTec2 to be active. Supplementation of Celluclast + Novozym 188 with TaLPMO9 increased the conversion of glucan by 1.6-fold and xylan by 1.5-fold, which was evident primarily in the later stages of saccharification (24-72 h). Improved glucan conversion could be explained by drastically reduced cellulose crystallinity of spruce substrates upon TaLPMO9 supplementation.

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrated that LPMO addition to hydrolytic enzymes improves the release of glucose and xylose from steam-pretreated softwood substrates. Furthermore, softwood lignin provides enough reducing power for LPMOs, irrespective of pretreatment severity. These results provided new insights into the potential role of LPMOs in saccharification of industrially relevant softwood substrates.

Inhibition of enzyme hydrolysis of cellulose by phenols from hydrothermally pretreated sugarcane straw

Relatively few studies have addressed the characterization of sugarcane straw (SCS) for production of fermentable sugars through enzyme hydrolysis. Straw is a major co-product of the sugarcane harvest in Brazil that has potential to sustainably increase cellulosic feedstocks in Brazil by 50%. Pretreatment of 10% w/v straw with liquid hot water (LHW) at 180 °C for 50 min (severity, S_o, of 4.05), solubilizes hemicellulose, preserves glucan, and generates 4.49 g/L soluble phenolic compounds in the resulting liquid. Extracts from washing pretreated solids with excess hot water followed by acetone resulted in 1.10 and 0.83 g/L phenolics, respectively. Acetone-derived extracts were more inhibitory and decreased glucose yield for enzyme hydrolysis of Solka Floc (a lignin-free cellulose) by 42%. In comparison, pretreated straw washed with hot water or acetone was readily hydrolyzed to 92% and 97% by cellulase enzyme. Hydrothermally treated SCS has the potential to provide a valuable and added source of fermentable sugars suitable for bioprocessing into biofuels and bioproducts when cellulase enzyme inhibitors are removed after pretreatment.

Influence of Pretreatment Severity Factor and Hammett Acidity on Softwood Fractionation by an Acidic Protic Ionic Liquid

The impact of pretreatment severity in the acidic protic ionic liquid (IL) N,N-dimethylbutylammonium hydrogen sulfate, [DMBA][HSO₄] using pine softwood was investigated using a modified severity factor that considers the IL solution acidity based on Hammett acidity. A Box-Behnken experimental design was employed to evaluate pretreatment severity with temperature, pretreatment time, and IL concentration as factors and degree of delignification as the response variable. The optimal pretreatment conditions were found to be at 170 °C, 30 min, and 80 wt % IL, which yielded nearly 90% of delignification and 95% of glucose yield in enzymatic saccharification. The modified severity factor showed an improved correlation with the fractionation indicators relative to the classical pretreatment severity factor, indicating that it can better predict the pretreatment outcomes, particularly for delignification and hemicellulose removal. The fate of hemicellulose, its conversion to humins, and its impact on the precipitated lignin properties were also investigated and correlated to the modified pretreatment severity factor. It was found that such parameters alone cannot be used to predict the fate of dissolved hemicellulose sugars in the IL medium. Furthermore, IL acidity greatly impacts the degradation of the dissolved hemicellulose sugars and the formation of humins.

Predicting xylose yield from prehydrolysis of hardwoods: A machine learning approach

Hemicelluloses are amorphous polymers of sugar molecules that make up a major fraction of lignocellulosic biomasses. They have applications in the bioenergy, textile, mining, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. Industrial use of hemicellulose often requires that the polymer be hydrolyzed into constituent oligomers and monomers. Traditional models of hemicellulose degradation are kinetic, and usually only appropriate for limited operating regimes and specific species. The study of hemicellulose hydrolysis has yielded substantial data in the literature, enabling a diverse data set to be collected for general and widely applicable machine learning models. In this paper, a dataset containing 1955 experimental data points on batch hemicellulose hydrolysis of hardwood was collected from 71 published papers dated from 1985 to 2019. Three machine learning models (ridge regression, support vector regression and artificial neural networks) are assessed on their ability to predict xylose yield and compared to a kinetic model. Although the performance of ridge regression was unsatisfactory, both support vector regression and artificial neural networks outperformed the simple kinetic model. The artificial neural network outperformed support vector regression, reducing the mean absolute error in predicting soluble xylose yield of test data to 6.18%. The results suggest that machine learning models trained on historical data may be used to supplement experimental data, reducing the number of experiments needed.

Understanding the toxicity of lignin-derived phenolics towards enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulose for rationally developing effective in-situ mitigation strategies to maximize sugar production from lignocellulosic biorefinery

The lignin-derived phenolics are highly inhibitory toward lignocellulose enzymatic hydrolysis, while the relationship between phenolic structure and inhibitory effect is still not fully understood. In this study, the compositions of phenolics from dilute acid pretreated wheat straw were analyzed and their impact on cellulose hydrolysis was studied. With increase of pretreatment severity, more toxic phenolics were produced from lignin degradation reactions, which were the major contributor to the increased inhibitory effect of pretreatment hydrolysate towards cellulases. Through analyzing the relationship of phenolic structure and their inhibitory effect, a useful model was developed to predict the phenolics-caused inhibition by combining the indexes of electrophilicity and hydrophobicity. Further, through understanding the interactions between phenolics and cellulases, a novel biocomponent alleviator was rationally designed to block the phenolics-cellulase interactions, the degree of improvement of enzymatic hydrolysis reached as high as 135.8%. This study provides directions for developing more effective pretreatment and detoxification methods.

Correlation between physicochemical characteristics of lignin deposited on autohydrolyzed wood chips and their cellulase enzymatic hydrolysis

Enzymatic hydrolysis is a method to generate biofuel from biomass, and autohydrolysis is a popular method to pretreat biomass prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. The primary aim of the present study was to determine the role of lignin produced in the autohydrolysis process on the enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass. The HSQC and ³¹P NMR analyses confirmed that β-O-4 of lignin was reduced, while β-5, β-β, and S/G-ratio of lignin were increased with intensifying the hydrolysis intensity.The increase in the hydrolysis intensity significantly enhanced the condensed and non-condensed phenolic OH group of lignin. Interestingly, the cellulase enzyme adsorbed more on lignin that had more phenolic content, and its association with lignin reduced its activity for hydrolyzing cellulose microcrystals. Strong negative correlations were observed between the enzymatic hydrolysis yield and the condensed S-OH (r² = 0.978) and G-OH (r² = 0.961) of lignin generated in the autohydrolysis process.

Coprocessing Corn Germ Meal for Oil Recovery and Ethanol Production: A Process Model for Lipid-Producing Energy Crops

Efforts to engineer high-productivity crops to accumulate oils in their vegetative tissue present the possibility of expanding biodiesel production. However, processing the new crops for lipid recovery and ethanol production from cell wall saccharides is challenging and expensive. In a previous study using corn germ meal as a model substrate, we reported that liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment enriched the lipid concentration by 2.2 to 4.2 fold. This study investigated combining oil recovery with ethanol production by extracting oil following LHW and simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF) of the biomass. Corn germ meal was again used to model the oil-bearing energy crops. Pretreated germ meal hydrolysate or solids (160 and 180 °C for 10 min) were fermented, and lipids were extracted from both the spent fermentation whole broth and fermentation solids, which were recovered by centrifugation and convective drying. Lipid contents in spent fermentation solids increased 3.7 to 5.7 fold compared to the beginning germ meal. The highest lipid yield achieved after fermentation was 36.0 mg lipid g−1 raw biomass; the maximum relative amount of triacylglycerol (TAG) was 50.9% of extracted oil. Although the fermentation step increased the lipid concentration of the recovered solids, it did not improve the lipid yields of pretreated biomass and detrimentally affected oil compositions by increasing the relative concentrations of free fatty acids.

Opportunities and challenges for flow-through hydrothermal pretreatment in advanced biorefineries

Hydrothermal pretreatment (HTP) using only water offers great potential to reduce the overall cost of the bioconversion process. However, traditional HTP performed in a batch has limitations in removing lignin and often needs to be performed under severe conditions to achieve reasonable pretreatment effects. Lignin left in the pretreated residue at these conditions is also highly condensed, thus possessing an even more adverse impact on the hydrolysis process, which requires high enzyme loadings. To address these technical challenges, HTP performed in a flow-through configuration was developed to simultaneously achieve near-complete hemicellulose recovery, high lignin removal and high sugar release. Despite facing challenges such as potentially large water usage, flow-through HTP still represents one of the most cost-effective and eco-friendly pretreatment methods. This review mainly covers the latest cutting-edge innovations of flow-through HTP along with structural and compositional changes of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin before and after pretreatment.

Integral Analysis of Liquid-Hot-Water Pretreatment of Wheat Straw: Evaluation of the Production of Sugars, Degradation Products, and Lignin

Developing sustainable biorefineries is an urgent matter to support the transition to a sustainable society. Lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) is a crucial renewable feedstock for this purpose, and its complete valorization is essential for the sustainability of biorefineries. However, it is improbable that a single pretreatment will extract both sugars and lignin from LCB. Therefore, a combination of pretreatments must be applied. Liquid-hot-water (LHW) is highlighted as a pretreatment for hemicellulose hydrolysis, conventionally analyzed only in terms of sugars and degradation products. However, lignin is also hydrolyzed in the process. The objective of this work was to evaluate LHW at different conditions for sugars, degradation products, and lignin. We performed LHW at 160, 180, and 200 °C for 30, 60, and 90 min using wheat straw and characterized the extract for sugars, degradation products (furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural, and acetic acid), and lignin. Three conditions allowed reaching similar total sugar concentrations (~12 g/L): 160 °C for 90 min, 180 °C for 30 min, and 180 °C for 60 min. Among these, LHW performed at 160 °C for 90 min allowed the lowest concentration of degradation products (0.2, 0.01, and 1.4 g/L for furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural, and acetic acid, respectively) and lignin hydrolysis (2.2 g/L). These values indicate the potential use of the obtained sugars as a fermentation substrate while leaving the lignin in the solid phase for a following stage focused on its extraction and valorization.

Severity factor kinetic model as a strategic parameter of hydrothermal processing (steam explosion and liquid hot water) for biomass fractionation under biorefinery concept

Hydrothermal processes are an attractive clean technology and cost-effective engineering platform for biorefineries based in the conversion of biomass to biofuels and high-value bioproducts under the basis of sustainability and circular bioeconomy. The deep and detailed knowledge of the structural changes by the severity of biomasses hydrothermal fractionation is scientifically and technological needed in order to improve processes effectiveness, reactors designs, and industrial application of the multi-scale target compounds obtained by steam explosion and liquid hot water systems. The concept of the severity factor [log₁₀ (R_o)] established>30 years ago, continues to be a useful index that can provide a simple descriptor of the relationship between the operational conditions for biomass fractionation in second generation of biorefineries. This review develops a deep explanation of the hydrothermal severity factor based in lignocellulosic biomass fractionation with emphasis in research advances, pretreatment operations and the applications of severity factor kinetic model.

Valorization of Chinese hickory shell as novel sources for the efficient production of xylooligosaccharides

Chinese hickory shell, a by-product of the food industry, is still not utilized and urgent to develop sustainable technologies for its valorization. This research focuses on the systematical evaluation of degraded products and xylooligosaccharide production with high yield from the shell via hydrothermal process. The pretreatment was carried out in a bath pressurized reactor at 140-220 °C for 0.5-2 h. The results indicated that the pretreatment condition strongly affected the chemical structures and compositions of the liquid fraction. The maximum yield of XOS (55.3 wt%) with limitation of by-products formation was achieved at 160 °C for 2 h. High temperature (220 °C) and short time (0.5 h) contributed to hydrolysis of xylooligosaccharide with high DP to yield 37.5 wt% xylooligosaccharide with DP from 2 to 6. Xylooligosaccharide obtained mainly consisted of xylan with branches according to the HSQC NMR analysis. Overall, the production of XOS with a high yield from food waste will facilitate the valorization of food waste in the biorefinery industry.

Superheated steam as carrier gas and the sole heat source to enhance biomass torrefaction

Superheated steam (SHS) has been used as a carrier gas for pressurized steam torrefaction, steam explosion or pyrolysis, but is barely used as a heat source. However, SHS is superior in thermal capacity and heat transfer coefficient resulting in even heating and fast heating rates. Therefore, this work applied SHS as the sole heat source for torrefaction at ambient pressure. A setup was specially designed and capable of heating wood shavings at a rate >120 °C•min^-1. Solid products were analyzed in many aspects and demonstrated the enhanced organics conversion owing to SHS torrefaction. Torrefied biomass was comparable to slow pyrolysis char in fuel quality and superior to that of conventional torrefactions. Moreover, SHS torrefaction was super-timesaving. A coal-like product (HHV of 27.84 MJ•kg^-1) was achieved in only 15 min at 350 °C. Overall, SHS torrefaction boosted biomass densification and gaveriseto greater production efficiency.

Effect of lignin-blocking agent on enzyme hydrolysis of acid pretreated hemp waste

Hemp wastes (stems and branches), fractionated after hemp flower extraction for the production of cannabidiol oil, were utilized as a potentially renewable resource for the sugar flatform process. Hydrolysis of cellulose from the acid pretreated hemp biomass using a commercial enzyme was tested and evaluated for its chemical composition, morphological change, and sugar recovery. Acid pretreated hemp stems and branches, containing 1% glucan (w/v) solids, were hydrolyzed for 72 h using 25 mg enzyme protein per g glucan. A 54% glucose conversion was achieved from the treated branches versus a 71% yield from the treated stems. Raw branches and stems yielded 35% and 38% glucose, respectively. Further tests with a lignin-blocking additive (e.g. bovine serum albumin) resulted in a 72% glucose yield increase for stem hydrolysis using 10 mg enzyme protein per g glucan. While pretreatment promotes amorphous hemicellulose decrease and cellulose decomposition, it causes enzyme inhibition/deactivation due to potential inhibitors (phenols and lignin-derived compounds). This study confirms the addition of non-catalytic proteins enhances the cellulose conversion by avoiding non-productive binding of enzymes to the lignin and lignin-derived molecules, with lignin content determining the degree of inhibition and conversion efficiency.

Protective effects of non-catalytic proteins on endoglucanase activity at air and lignin interfaces

The manner in which added non-catalytic proteins during enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic substrates enhances hydrolysis mechanisms is not completely understood. Prior research has indicated that a reduction in the non-specific adsorption of enzymes on lignin, and deactivation of enzymes exposed to air-liquid interface provide rationale. This work investigated root causes including effects of the air-liquid interface on non-catalytic proteins, and effects of lignin on endoglucanase. Three different experimental designs and three variables (air-liquid interfacial area, the types of lignin (acid or enzymatic lignin), and the presence of non-enzymatic protein (bovine serum albumin [BSA] or soy proteins ) were used. The results showed that acid isolated lignin adsorbed almost all endoglucanase activity initially present in supernatant, independent of air interface conditions (25 or 250 ml flasks) with the presence of BSA preventing this effect. Endoglucanase lost 30%-50% of its activity due to an air-liquid interface in the presence of lignin while addition of non-enzymatic protein helped to preserve this enzyme's activity. Langmuir and Freundlich models applied to experimental data indicated that the adsorption increases with increasing temperature for both endoglucanase and BSA. Adsorption of the enzyme and protein were endothermic with an increase in entropy. These results, combined, show that hydrophobicity plays a strong role in the adsorption of both endoglucanase and BSA on lignin.

Effects on Lignin Redistribution in Eucalyptus globulus Fibres Pre-Treated by Steam Explosion: A Microscale Study to Cellulose Accessibility

The objective of this study was to investigate structural changes and lignin redistribution in Eucalyptus globulus pre-treated by steam explosion under different degrees of severity (S₀), in order to evaluate their effect on cellulose accessibility by enzymatic hydrolysis. Approximately 87.7% to 98.5% of original glucans were retained in the pre-treated material. Glucose yields after the enzymatic hydrolysis of pre-treated material improved from 19.4% to 85.1% when S₀ was increased from 8.53 to 10.42. One of the main reasons for the increase in glucose yield was the redistribution of lignin as micro-particles were deposited on the surface and interior of the fibre cell wall. This information was confirmed by laser scanning confocal fluorescence and FT-IR imaging; these microscopic techniques show changes in the physical and chemical characteristics of pre-treated fibres. In addition, the results allowed the construction of an explanatory model for microscale understanding of the enzymatic accessibility mechanism in the pre-treated lignocellulose.

Material utilization of green waste: a review on potential valorization methods

Considering global developments like climate change and the depletion of fossil resources, the use of new and sustainable feedstocks such as lignocellulosic biomass becomes inevitable. Green waste comprises heterogeneous lignocellulosic biomass with low lignin content, which does not stem from agricultural processes or purposeful cultivation and therefore mainly arises in urban areas. So far, the majority of green waste is being composted or serves as feedstock for energy production. Here, the hitherto untapped potential of green waste for material utilization instead of conventional recycling is reviewed. Green waste is a promising starting material for the direct extraction of valuable compounds, the chemical and fermentative conversion into basic chemicals as well as the manufacturing of functional materials like electrodes for electro-biotechnological applications through carbonization. This review serves as a solid foundation for further work on the valorization of green waste.

Tracing Sweetgum Lignin's Molecular Properties through Biorefinery Processing

Changes to the molecular properties of lignin over the course of biorefinery processing were investigated by using sweetgum as a feedstock. Hydrothermal pretreatment has been used because it is an economically attractive, green process. Three representative biorefinery lignin preparations were obtained, with about 70 % yield based on raw lignin. The three fractions included soluble lignin adsorbed on resin (XADL), solvent-extracted lignin (HTCELp), and an additional ball-milled residual lignin (HTRELp). By comparing the raw and biorefinery lignin preparations, it can be concluded that lignin undergoes both degradation and condensation throughout the various stages of the hydrothermal-based biorefinery process. The two fractions made soluble by biorefinery processing, XADL and HTCELp, were found to be low-molecular-weight degradation products enriched with free phenolic hydroxyl groups. In addition, about 15 % of noncondensed phenolic units were involved in condensation reactions. Quantitative NMR spectroscopy analysis revealed that at least about 28 % of β-O-4' substructures were cleaved. Hibbert's ketones were identified in XADL and HTRELp, which provided evidence of lignin undergoing acidolysis. The contents of β-5' and β-β' did not change significantly upon biorefinery processing. Finally, episyringaresinol was detected in XADL and HTCELp. It is hoped that these findings will help to further demonstrate the specific effects of biorefinery processing on lignin in hardwood and facilitate its utilization to improve biorefinery economics.

Steam Explosion Pretreatment of Beechwood. Part 2: Quantification of Cellulase Inhibitors and Their Effect on Avicel Hydrolysis

Biomass pretreatment is a mandatory step for the biochemical conversion of lignocellulose to chemicals. During pretreatment, soluble compounds are released into the prehydrolyzate that inhibit the enzymatic hydrolysis step. In this work, we investigated how the reaction conditions in steam explosion pretreatment of beechwood (severity: 3.0–5.25; temperature: 160–230 °C) influence the resulting amounts of different inhibitors. Furthermore, we quantified the extent of enzyme inhibition during enzymatic hydrolysis of Avicel in the presence of the prehydrolyzates. The amounts of phenolics, HMF, acetic acid and formic acid increased with increasing pretreatment severities and maximal quantities of 21.6, 8.3, 43.7 and 10.9 mg/gbeechwood, respectively, were measured at the highest severity. In contrast, the furfural concentration peaked at a temperature of 200 °C and a severity of 4.75. The presence of the prehydrolyzates in enzymatic hydrolysis of Avicel lowered the glucose yields by 5–26%. Mainly, the amount of phenolics and xylose and xylooligomers contributed to the reduced yield. As the maximal amounts of these two inhibitors can be found at different conditions, a wide range of pretreatment severities led to severely inhibiting prehydrolyzates. This study may provide guidelines when choosing optimal pretreatment conditions for whole slurry enzymatic hydrolysis.

Steam Explosion Pretreatment of Beechwood. Part 1: Comparison of the Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Washed Solids and Whole Pretreatment Slurry at Different Solid Loadings

Steam explosion is a well-known process to pretreat lignocellulosic biomass in order to enhance sugar yields in enzymatic hydrolysis, but pretreatment conditions have to be optimized individually for each material. In this study, we investigated how the results of a pretreatment optimization procedure are influenced by the chosen reaction conditions in the enzymatic hydrolysis. Beechwood was pretreated by steam explosion and the resulting biomass was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis at glucan loadings of 1% and 5% employing either washed solids or the whole pretreatment slurry. For enzymatic hydrolysis in both reaction modes at a glucan loading of 1%, the glucose yields markedly increased with increasing severity and with increasing pretreatment temperature at identical severities and maximal values were reached at a pretreatment temperature of 230 °C. However, the optimal severity was 5.0 for washed solids enzymatic hydrolysis, but only 4.75 for whole slurry enzymatic hydrolysis. When the glucan loading was increased to 5%, glucose yields hardly increased for pretreatment temperatures between 210 and 230 °C at a given severity, and a pretreatment temperature of 220 °C was sufficient under these conditions. Consequently, it is important to precisely choose the desired conditions of the enzymatic hydrolysis reaction, when aiming to optimize the pretreatment conditions for a certain biomass.

Effect of Lignin Content on Cellulolytic Saccharification of Liquid Hot Water Pretreated Sugarcane Bagasse

Lignin contributes to the rigid structure of the plant cell wall and is partially responsible for the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic materials to enzymatic digestion. Overcoming this recalcitrance is one the most critical issues in a sugar-flat form process. This study addresses the effect of low lignin sugarcane bagasse on enzymatic hydrolysis after liquid hot water pretreatment at 190 °C and 20 min (severity factor: 3.95). The hydrolysis of bagasse from a sugarcane line selected for a relatively low lignin content, gave an 89.7% yield of cellulose conversion to glucose at 40 FPU/g glucan versus a 68.3% yield from a comparably treated bagasse from the high lignin bred line. A lower enzyme loading of 5 FPU/g glucan (equivalent to 3.2 FPU/g total solids) resulted in 31.4% and 21.9% conversion yields, respectively, for low and high lignin samples, suggesting the significance of lignin content in the saccharification process. Further increases in the enzymatic conversion of cellulose to glucose were achieved when the bagasse sample was pre-incubated with a lignin blocking agent, e.g., bovine serum albumin (50 mg BSA/g glucan) at 50 °C for 1 h prior to an actual saccharification. In this work, we have demonstrated that even relatively small differences in lignin content can result in considerably increased sugar production, which supports the dissimilarity of bagasse lignin content and its effects on cellulose digestibility. The increased glucose yields with the addition of BSA helped to decrease the inhibition of non-productive absorption of cellulose enzymes onto lignin and solid residual lignin fractions.

In situ deep eutectic solvent pretreatment to improve lignin removal from garden wastes and enhance production of bio-methane and microbial lipids

Biomass pretreatment can improve the conversion efficiency of bioenergy production. Liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment is a truly green pretreatment due to its zero chemical use, but has the disadvantages of low lignin removal and pseudo-lignin formation. A modified liquid hot water (MLHW) process based on in situ synthesis of deep eutectic solvent (DES) could efficiently improve delignification of Roystonea regia leaves (LR) and leaf sheaths (LSR). LSR was less recalcitrant than LR, and its characteristics of higher porosity (34.8%) and thinner cell walls (5.2 μm) for LSR contributed it higher lignin removal (53.6%) and lower choline chloride (ChCl) consumption (H₂O-ChCl mass ratio of 2:1) than those (44.6% and 1:2) from LR. Moreover, a great improvement of 309.0% in bio-methane yield was achieved for the MLHW-treated LSR. In addition, in situ DES in MLHW had good biocompatibility with cellulase, microalgae, and yeast.

Lignin-Enzyme Interactions in the Hydrolysis of Lignocellulosic Biomass

Lignin is central to overcoming recalcitrance in the enzyme hydrolysis of lignocellulose. While the term implies a physical barrier in the cell wall structure, there are also important biochemical components that direct interactions between lignin and the hydrolytic enzymes that attack cellulose in plant cell walls. Progress toward a deeper understanding of the lignin synthesis pathway - and the consistency between a range of observations over the past 40 years in the very extensive literature on cellulose hydrolysis - is resulting in advances in reducing a major impediment to cellulose conversion: the cost of enzymes. This review addresses lignin and its role in the hydrolysis of hardwood and other lignocellulosic residues.

Temperature dependent cellulase adsorption on lignin from sugarcane bagasse

Extents of adsorption of cellulolytic enzymes on lignin, derived from sugarcane bagasse, were an inverse function of incubation temperature and varied with type of lignin extraction. At 45 °C, lignin derived from acid hydrolyzed liquid hot water pretreated bagasse completely adsorbed cellulolytic enzymes from Trichoderma reesei within 90 min. Lignin derived from enzyme hydrolyzed liquid hot water pretreated bagasse adsorbed only 60% of T. reesei endoglucanase, exoglucanase and β-glucosidase activities. β-Glucosidase from Aspergillus niger was not adsorbed. At 30 °C, adsorption of all of the enzymes was minimal and enzyme hydrolysis at 30 °C approached that at 45 °C after 168 h. Hence, temperature provided an approach to decrease loss of enzyme activity by reducing enzyme adsorption on lignin. This helps to explain why simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), both carried out at 30-32 °C, could offer viable options for mitigating lignin-derived inhibition effects.

Integrating electrochemical, biological, physical, and thermochemical process units to expand the applicability of anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a mature biotechnology-production platform with millions of installations at homes, farms, and industrial/municipal settings. Large-scale industrial, agricultural, and municipal waste-treatment systems may observe novel integration with electrochemical, biological, physical, and thermochemical process units to make AD more attractive. Without governmental subsidies, AD has often only a relatively low economic return or none at all. Diversification of products besides methane in biogas may help to change this. Here, several sections discuss different process units to: 1) upgrade biogas into biomethane; 2) convert carbon dioxide in biogas to more biomethane; 3) generate cooling power from process heat; 4) produce bio-crude oil (bio-oil) from organic matter; and 5) produce a liquid biochemical product from organic matter. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a selection of particularly promising process units from a technological view, which are already integrated with AD or close to full-scale integration.

Astaxanthin stability and color change of krill during subcritical water treatment

Pacific krill (Euphausia pacifica) contains high amounts of astaxanthin, a carotenoid pigment with strong antioxidative activities. In this study, the effects of subcritical water temperatures (100-180 °C) and times (0-10 min) on color changes (L*, a*, and b*) and astaxanthin degradation in Pacific krill were investigated. In addition, an aqueous solution of pure astaxanthin and that of crude astaxanthin from Pacific krill, both at a concentration of 5 mg/L, were subjected to treatment under subcritical water conditions using a flow-type reactor to compare the degradation of free astaxanthin and astaxanthin fatty acid esters. To compare the results of the different treatment conditions on the properties of astaxanthin, the severity factor (log R₀) was calculated, which ranged from 0.38 to 3.52. The extractability of astaxanthin enhanced when the subcritical water treatment was carried out at log R₀ values of 2.00-2.44. In contrast, astaxanthin underwent 50% degradation at log R₀ > 2.44. The changes in the a* values correlated well with the astaxanthin content in the treated krill, while the b* and L* values might relate to the browning components forming owing to Maillard reaction. The results show that free astaxanthin was less stable than crude astaxanthin under subcritical water treatment.

Improved physicochemical pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of rice straw for bioethanol production by yeast fermentation

Lignocellulosic biomass such as agricultural and forest residues are considered as an alternative, inexpensive, renewable, and abundant source for fuel ethanol production. In the present study, three different pretreatment methods for rice straw were carried out to investigate the maximum lignin removal for subsequent bioethanol fermentation. The chemical pretreatments of rice straw were optimized under different pretreatment severity conditions in the range of 1.79-2.26. Steam explosion of rice straw at 170 °C for 10 min, sequentially treated with 2% (w/v) KOH (SEKOH) in autoclave at 121 °C for 30 min, resulted in 85 ± 2% delignification with minimum sugar loss. Combined pretreatment of steam explosion and KOH at severity factor (SF 3.10) showed improved cellulose fraction of biomass. Furthermore, enzymatic hydrolysis at 30 FPU/g enzyme loading resulted in 664.0 ± 5.39 mg/g sugar yield with 82.60 ± 1.7% saccharification efficiency. Consequently, the hydrolysate of SEKOH with 58.70 ± 1.52 g/L sugars when fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae OBC14 showed 26.12 ± 1.24 g/L ethanol, 0.44 g/g ethanol yield with 87.03 ± 1.6% fermentation efficiency.

The effect of liquid hot water pretreatment on the chemical-structural alteration and the reduced recalcitrance in poplar

BACKGROUND

Hydrothermal pretreatment using liquid hot water (LHW) is capable of substantially reducing the cell wall recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass. It enhances the saccharification of polysaccharides, particularly cellulose, into glucose with relatively low capital required. Due to the close association with biomass recalcitrance, the structural change of the components of lignocellulosic materials during the pretreatment is crucial to understand pretreatment chemistry and advance the bio-economy. Although the LHW pretreatment has been extensively applied and studied, the molecular structural alteration during pretreatment and its significance to reduced recalcitrance have not been well understood.

RESULTS

We investigated the effects of LHW pretreatment with different severity factors (log R₀) on the structural changes of fast-grown poplar (Populus trichocarpa). With the severity factor ranging from 3.6 to 4.2, LHW pretreatment resulted in a substantial xylan solubilization by 50-77% (w/w, dry matter). The molecular weights of the remained hemicellulose in pretreated solids also have been significantly reduced by 63-75% corresponding to LHW severity factor from 3.6 to 4.2. In addition, LHW had a considerable impact on the cellulose structure. The cellulose crystallinity increased 6-9%, whereas its degree of polymerization decreased 35-65% after pretreatment. We found that the pretreatment severity had an empirical linear correlation with the xylan solubilization (R² = 0.98, r = + 0.99), hemicellulose molecular weight reduction (R² = 0.97, r = - 0.96 and R² = 0.93, r = - 0.98 for number-average and weight-average degree of polymerization, respectively), and cellulose crystallinity index increase (R² = 0.98, r = + 0.99). The LHW pretreatment also resulted in small changes in lignin structure such as decrease of β-O-4' ether linkages and removal of cinnamyl alcohol end group and acetyl group, while the S/G ratio of lignin in LHW pretreated poplar residue remained no significant change compared with the untreated poplar.

CONCLUSIONS

This study revealed that the solubilization of xylan, the reduction of hemicellulose molecular weights and cellulose degree of polymerization, and the cleavage of alkyl-aryl ether bonds in lignin resulted from LHW pretreatment are critical factors associated with reduced cell wall recalcitrance. The chemical-structural changes of the three major components, cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose, during LHW pretreatment provide useful and fundamental information of factors governing feedstock recalcitrance during hydrothermal pretreatment.

Comparison of liquid hot water and alkaline pretreatments of giant reed for improved enzymatic digestibility and biogas energy production

Liquid hot water (LHW) and alkaline pretreatments of giant reed biomass were compared in terms of digestibility, methane production, and cost-benefit efficiency for electricity generation via anaerobic digestion with a combined heat and power system. Compared to LHW pretreatment, alkaline pretreatment retained more of the dry matter in giant reed biomass solids due to less severe conditions. Under their optimal conditions, LHW pretreatment (190°C, 15min) and alkaline pretreatment (20g/L of NaOH, 24h) improved glucose yield from giant reed by more than 2-fold, while only the alkaline pretreatment significantly (p<0.05) increased cumulative methane yield (by 63%) over that of untreated biomass (217L/kgVS). LHW pretreatment obtained negative net electrical energy production due to high energy input. Alkaline pretreatment achieved 27% higher net electrical energy production than that of non-pretreatment (3859kJ/kg initial total solids), but alkaline liquor reuse is needed for improved net benefit.

Comprehensive evaluation of the liquid fraction during the hydrothermal treatment of rapeseed straw

BACKGROUND

The requirement for efficient and green conversion technologies has prompted hydrothermal processing as a promising treatment option for sustainable biorefinery industry. The treatment has been applied to process plenty of lignocellulose materials, yielding abundant high value-degraded products, especially the products in the liquid fraction. Therefore, it is essential to systematically evaluate the degraded products in aqueous fraction by comprehensive analysis and structural characterization during the treatment.

RESULTS

Rapeseed straw was hydrothermally treated at temperature ranging from 145 to 205 °C for various retention time (15, 30, 60 and 120 min), and the degraded polysaccharides and lignin products in aqueous phase were systematically evaluated by comprehensive analysis and structural characterization. Results showed that with an increase of severity, the polymers were gradually depolymerized resulting in a decrease of the molecular weight from 8430 (log R 0 3.26) to 2130 g/mol (log R 0 5.08), an increase of oligosaccharides from 19.44 (log R 0 2.88) to 99.94 g/kg (log R 0 4.32) and an increase of monosaccharides from 0.91 (log R 0 2.88) to 30.43 g/kg (log R 0 4.37). With the increase of monosaccharide degradation components (8.26 to 125.68 g/kg), the saccharides gradually decreased after its maximum value. The maximum yield of oligosaccharides (99.94 g/kg) accompanying a relatively low level of monosaccharides (17.77 g/kg) was obtained at a high temperature (190 °C) for a short reaction time (15 min). The degraded polysaccharides had a linear backbone of (1 → 4)-linked β-d-xylopyranosyl xylan decorated with branches based on 2D NMR spectra analysis. Lignin was strongly condensed with a decrease of S/G ratio as the severity increased. The yields of the degraded constitutions have a incomplete linear correlation with the treatment severity.

CONCLUSIONS

The liquid fractions obtained from hydrothermal treatment were subjected to comprehensive analysis and structural characterization. Results indicated that hydrothermal treatment had a significant influence on the composition and structure of the polysaccharides and lignin in the aqueous phase. The treatment could be adopted to obtain XOS-rich fraction with limited formation of by-products. In addition, the result was expected to further reveal the mechanisms of hydrothermal treatment on rapeseed straw and to facilitate the value-added applications of agricultural residues in the biorefinery industry.

Using severity factor as a parameter to optimize krill treatment under subcritical water conditions

The aim of this study was to optimize the conditions for subcritical water treatment of krill, as expressed with a single parameter: the severity factor (log R₀). Raw krill was treated under subcritical water conditions at various log R₀ values (1.54-3.75) by varying the treatment temperatures (120-180 °C) and times (0-10 min) in two different sizes of batch-type vessel (10 and 117 mL). The log R₀ value could efficiently describe changes in various properties of the obtained liquid extracts and solid residues. The most desirable shrimp-like flavor intensity and highest sensory preference were obtained for log R₀ values of 2.75-3.01. The results also proved that severity factor can be used as a single parameter to control subcritical water treatment conditions in differently sized batch-type vessels to produce shrimp-like flavor extract and residue from krill.

Effect of phenolic compounds from pretreated sugarcane bagasse on cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic activities

This work shows both cellulases and hemicellulases are inhibited and deactivated by water-soluble and acetone extracted phenolics from sugarcane bagasse pretreated at 10% (w/v) for 30 min in liquid hot water at 180 or 200°C. The dissolved phenolics in vacuum filtrate increased from 1.4 to 2.4 g/L as temperature increased from 180 to 200°C. The suppression of cellulose and hemicellulose hydrolysis by phenolics is dominated by deactivation of the β-glucosidase or β-xylosidase components of cellulase and hemicellulase enzyme by acetone extract at 0.2-0.65 mg phenolics/mg enzyme protein and deactivation of cellulases and hemicellulases by the water soluble components in vacuum filtrate at 0.05-2mg/mg. Inhibition was a function of the type of enzyme and the manner in which the phenolics were extracted from the bagasse.

Hydrothermal Pretreatment of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Leaflets and Rachis to Enhance Enzymatic Digestibility and Bioethanol Potential

Date palm residues are one of the most promising lignocellulosic biomass for bioethanol production in the Middle East. In this study, leaflets and rachis were subjected to hydrothermal pretreatment to overcome the recalcitrance of the biomass for enzymatic conversion. Evident morphological, structural, and chemical changes were observed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy after pretreatment. High glucan (>90% for both leaflets and rachis) and xylan (>75% for leaflets and >79% for rachis) recovery were achieved. Under the optimal condition of hydrothermal pretreatment (210°C/10 min) highly digestible (glucan convertibility, 100% to leaflets, 78% to rachis) and fermentable (ethanol yield, 96% to leaflets, 80% to rachis) solid fractions were obtained. Fermentability test of the liquid fractions proved that no considerable inhibitors to Saccharomyces cerevisiae were produced in hydrothermal pretreatment. Given the high sugar recovery, enzymatic digestibility, and ethanol yield, production of bioethanol by hydrothermal pretreatment could be a promising way of valorization of date palm residues in this region.

Influence of reaction conditions on the composition of liquid products from two-stage catalytic hydrothermal processing of lignin

The influence of reaction conditions on the composition of liquid products during two-stage hydrothermal conversion of alkali lignin has been investigated in a batch reactor. Reactions were carried out in the presence of formic acid (FA) and Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The two different sets of reaction conditions involved alternative reaction times of 1h and 5h at 265°C and 350°C, respectively. These provided different contributions to reaction severity, which affected the compositions of liquid products. Yields of liquid products reached up to 40wt% (on lignin feed basis) in the presence of FA under the less severe reaction condition. With 5h reaction time at 350°C, alkylphenols, alkylguaiacols and hydrocarbons were the dominant liquid products. However, with 5h reaction time at 265°C, phenol and methanol became dominant. The two-stage hydrothermal process led to improved lignin conversion, with the potential to manipulate the liquid product range.