BACKGROUND Alkaline hydrogen peroxide pretreatment catalyzed by Cu(II) 2,2'-bipyridine complexes has previously been determined to substantially improve the enzymatic hydrolysis of woody plants including hybrid poplar as a consequence of moderate delignification. In the present work, cell wall morphological and lignin structural changes were characterized for this pretreatment approach to gain ...

In this work, a delignification process, using lime (Ca(OH)2) as an alternative alkali, was evaluated to improve enzymatic saccharification of corn stover cellulose, with the final goal obtaining second-generation bioethanol. For that, experimental design conducted in order assay effect temperature, loading, and time on fractionation susceptibility cellulose. Under conditions evaluated, pretrea...

BACKGROUND Pretreatments are a prerequisite for enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass and production of ethanol. They are considered to open up the plant cell wall structure by altering, moving or solubilizing lignin and hydrolyzing a proportion of hemicellulosic moieties. However, there is little information concerning pretreatment-induced changes on wheat bran cell wall polymers and indeed on chang...

The use of mild pretreatment conditions can significantly lower the cost biorefining process. This study evaluated a approach for tobacco stem waste using combination dilute acid and alkali. By optimizing conditions, we obtained high reducing sugar concentration at temperature <100°C. Increasing or alkali strength in single step did not always improve result; instead, synergistic effect ...

Switchgrass is a promising lignocellulosic biomass for fuel-ethanol production. However, pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials is necessary to improve its susceptibility to enzymatic hydrolysis. The objectives of this study were to examine the feasibility of microwave pretreatment to enhance enzymatic hydrolysis of switchgrass and to determine the optimal pretreatment conditions. Switchgras...

A mixed substrate (MS) comprising oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB), oil palm frond (OPF), and rice husk (RH) was evaluated for endoglucanase production by Bacillus aerius S5.2. Effects of sulphuric acid, sodium hydroxide, N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO), and hydrothermal pretreatments on endoglucanase production were investigated. Endoglucanase production by B. aerius on the untreated (0.677 ...

Ethanol production from alkali treated rice straw was investigated by simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation (SSCF) using commercial cellulase and 3 different yeast strains viz., Saccharomyces cerevisiae HAU-1, Pachysolen tannophilus and Candida sp. individually as well as in combination at varied fermentation temperature and incubation time. Dilute alkali (2%) pretreatment of straw r...

BACKGROUND Delignification pretreatments of biomass and methods to assess their efficacy are crucial for biomass-to-biofuels research and technology. Here, we applied confocal and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) using one- and two-photon excitation to map the lignin distribution within bagasse fibers pretreated with acid and alkali. The evaluated spectra and decay times are corr...