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Effective enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials to produce fermentable sugars requires close cooperation between cellulase components. However, lignin remaining in the pre-treated substrate plays an inhibitory role in the synergistic action of enzymes through irreversible adsorption. In this study, the effect of cellulolytic enzyme lignin (CEL) isolated from pre-treated furfural residues and dissolved lignins (DLs) precipitated from black liquor on cellulase and cellobiase adsorption behavior was investigated. Green liquor (GL) combined with H2O2 (GL-H2O2) or ethanol (GL-ethanol) pre-treatments markedly decreased the adsorption capacity of CELs. However, the DLs had the strongest binding ability, which was approximately two to three times higher than that of CELs. According to SDS–PAGE analyses, only CBHII and EGII in cellulase and enzymes of 245 kDa and 55 kDa molecular weight in cellobiase were easily bound onto CELs and DLs. Solid-state 13C NMR spectra and FT-IR analysis indicated that pre-treatments reduced the hydrophobic structure of aromatic rings, β-O-4, and carbonyl, and increased the number of hydrophilic carboxyl groups in CELs. For this reason, the hydrophobicity of CELs was decreased, thus reducing their adsorption capacity. Compared with GL-H2O2 pre-treatment, GL-ethanol pre-treatment had a stronger effect on decreasing enzyme adsorption of lignin due to its high hydrophilicity. Heavy damage to aromatic structures, low molecular weight, and the large number of aliphatic portions in DLs caused their strong affinity for enzymes, although their BET surface area and hydrophobicity were low.

Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the potential feedstocks to produce second-generation cellulosic ethanol and biochemicals. To enhance the enzymatic digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass for efficient enzymatic saccharification, a variety of pretreatment methods have been studied. Among these, organosolv pretreatment using ethanol is a promising pretreatment method owing to its inherent advantages, such as low solvent cost, lack of toxicity, the ability to retain most cellulose fraction in substrates for enzymatic hydrolysis, coproduction of high-purity lignin and hemicellulosic sugars, easy solvent recovery, and reuse. In this review, the research progress regarding different types of ethanol organosolv pretreatment processes has been summarized in terms of methods, substrate properties, reaction mechanisms, delignification kinetic as well as the impact of pretreatment methods on the enzymatic digestibility. Attempts are also made to provide insights into the complete utilization of lignocellulosic biomass to achieve high potential revenues. Though some ethanol organosolv processes have been studied or are being developed towards commercialization, ethanol organosolv pretreatment is still facing some challenges. Finally, the direction for future work is given to develop a proper ethanol organosolv pretreatment for commercialization.

Green liquor (GL) is readily available in any pulp mills which could be recycled. Alkaline sulfite pretreatment process was developed for non-woody biomass biorefinery. In this study, GL combined with sulfite was effectively utilized to improve the enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse by selectively removing lignin. Compare to conventional alkaline sulfite pretreatment, the solid yield could be higher with low degradation of polysaccharide. With the increment of the pretreatment temperature from 100 to 140 °C, the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency was improved. And a higher glucose yield was achieved under pretreatment condition of 0.4 g/g-DS Na 2 SO 3 and 1.5 mL/g-DS GL due to the higher degradation of xylan. The highest glucose yield of 96.8% could be reached with 3.36 g/(L·h) of initial rate after Kraft GL-sulfite pretreatment at 140 °C. The superior performance of Kraft GL allows conversion of cellulose to glucose more significantly than Soda GL. In addition, surface tension test indicated that a part of lignin was dissolved in the pretreatment liquor as lignosulfonate. The results showed that GL combined with sulfite is a promising way for sugarcane bagasse pretreatment.

The merit of deacetylation of corn stover prior to pretreatment is decreasing the formation of inhibitors and improving enzyme hydrolysis, proved in dilute acid pretreatment. However, few studies are done on how deacetylation would affect bioconversion process containing steam explosion. In this study, the effect of deacetylation on steam explosion was conducted using poplar as substrate. About 57 to 90% of acetyl group in poplar, depending on alkaline types and concentration, was removed by dilute alkaline deacetylation in 6 h. Deacetylation eliminated over 85% of inhibitor formation during downstream steam explosion. However, deacetylation prior to steam explosion decreased the dissolution of hemicellulose, thus reducing the cellulose accessibility of pretreated poplar, finally resulting in 5–20% decrease in glucose yield and 20–35% decrease in xylose yield. The addition of 5% SO2 during steam explosion significantly improved the hydrolysis of deacetylated and pretreated poplar without significantly increasing the concentration of inhibitors. Incorporating 45 mmol/kg sulfoacid group in lignin fraction of deacetylated and then pretreated poplar dramatically improved the xylose yield to about 100% and increased the glucose yield by 30%.

Co-production of glucose, furfural and other green materials based on a lignocellulosic biorefinery is a promising way to realize the commercial application of corncob residues. An effective process was developed for glucose production using low temperature bisulfite pretreatment and high-solids enzymatic hydrolysis. Corncob residues from furfural production (FRs) were pretreated with 0.1g NaHSO3/g dry substrate at 100°C for 3h. Lignin was sulfonated and sulfonic groups were produced during pretreatment, which resulted in decreasing the zeta potential of the samples. Compared with raw material, bisulfite pretreatment of FRs increased the glucose yield from 18.6 to 99.45% after 72h hydrolysis at a solids loading of 12.5%. The hydrolysis residues showed a relatively high thermal stability and concentrated high derivatives. Direct pretreatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis is an environmentally-friendly and economically-feasible method for the production of glucose and high-purity lignin, which could be further converted into high-value products.

Kraft green liquor (GL) mainly consisting of sodium carbonate and sodium sulfide are available from Kraft mills. Kraft GL combined with ethanol (Kraft GL-ethanol) was chosen to pretreat sugarcane bagasse for effective enzymatic hydrolysis. And the obtained lignins and cellulose rich fractions were characterized in detail. The highest lignin removal of 95.3% was observed at a pretreatment temperature of 160 °C, and approximately 70.8% of lignin was removed at the pretreatment temperature of 100 °C. The lignin removal with Kraft GL-ethanol pretreatment was higher than that with Soda GL-ethanol pretreatment at 140 °C. An FT-IR study of the isolated lignins showed that an increase in pretreatment temperature resulted in the cleavage of ester bonds. GPC results revealed that the molecular weight decreased with increasing pretreatment temperature. The 2D HSQC NMR data showed that the cleavage of β-O-4 became more severe with increasing pretreatment temperature from 80 to 160 °C. Fewer condensation reactions between lignin units occurred when the pretreatment temperature was above 100 °C. Moreover, the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of sugarcane bagasse increasing with increasing pretreatment temperature. The glucose yield reached 65.13% at a pretreatment temperature of 80 °C. The maximum glucose yield (98.26%) of sugarcane bagasse after 72 h of enzymatic hydrolysis was achieved at a pretreatment temperature of 160 °C. When lignin content was low in samples after pretreatment at 140–160 °C, the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of the substrate increased because the number of crystalline cellulose regions decreased. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the surfaces of Kraft GL-ethanol pretreated sugarcane bagasse were separated into individual fibers. In addition, contact angle analysis showed that the Kraft GL-ethanol pretreated sugarcane bagasse was more hydrophilic than untreated sugarcane bagasse.

Inorganic salt treatment is a novel, high-yield, and environmentally friendly approach for the production of xylo-oligosaccharides from Sugarcane bagasse with degree of polymerization of 2–5. A xylo-oligosaccharides yield of 53.79% was obtained with 0.1 M MgCl2 treatment at 180 °C/10 min, and 41.89% with 0.1 M FeCl2 treatment at 140 °C/30 min. The xylo-oligosaccharides yield from the co-catalysis of 0.05 M FeCl2 + 0.05 M MgCl2 reached 54.68% (29.34% xylobiose and 20.94% xylotriose) at 140 °C/30 min. The co-catalysis not only effectively improved the xylobiose and xylotriose contents but also increased the total yield of xylo-oligosaccharides under mild reaction conditions. Additionally, the glucose yield observed from the solid residue after inorganic salt treatment was 71.62% by enzymatic hydrolysis. Mg2+ and Fe2+ are essential for good human health without separation from the system, therefore, the inorganic salt treatment can be potentially applied in the co-production of xylo-oligosaccharides and glucose.

Utilization of sustainable energy is limited by energy requirement for the manufacturing of renewable fuels. Moso bamboo was pretreated with industrially derived crude glycerol obtained from different sources at 150/160 °C for 3 h. This bamboo, pretreated with base biodiesel glycerol with pressure filtration removal method, showed a high glucose yield of 94.95% and an ethanol yield of 73.10% of the theoretical. Major glycerol content was removed by pressure filtration, leaving a small amount of fatty acid soap in the pretreated sample, which formed an emulsion that reduced lignin redisposition onto the biomass surface and effectively blocked lignin absorption of cellulase, allowing greater enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation system function. The surface was more hydrophilic and a higher lignin removal was achieved: 39.24% with base biodiesel glycerol pretreatment compared to 26.08% with sodium hydroxide glycerol pretreatment. This study provides a useful and cost-effective process, BBGP, for high-yield ethanol production.

Gleditsia saponin (GS) assisted high-solids enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation for alkaline peroxide (AP)-pretreated furfural residues (FRs) was investigated. The addition of GS increased the glucose yield of untreated FRs to 74.8% in high-solids-loading enzymatic hydrolysis. AP pretreatment before enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in a high sugar concentration (115.4 g/L) and a glucose yield of 57.5% by the end of hydrolysis at 20% solids loading. It was suggested that GS could improve significantly the glucose yields of FRs with high lignin content. After simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), the total cellulose conversion of FRs with 14.3% lignin content reached 82.2% and the highest ethanol concentration (69.1 g/L) was achieved, which was 121% higher than that of untreated FRs (30.1 g/L). The results indicated that the main reason behind the decreased glucose yield at high-solids loadings was product inhibition. Moreover, the lignin content plays an important role in the enhancement of GS-assisted high-solids enzymatic hydrolysis of AP-treated FRs.

The aim of this work was to study acetyl-assisted autohydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse for the production of xylo-oligosaccharides without additional chemicals. A xylo-oligosaccharide yield of 50.35% was obtained in 10 min through sugarcane bagasse autohydrolysis at 200 °C; this yield was 49.64% after acetyl-assisted autohydrolysis of a 65:35 mixture of sugarcane bagasse/white birch at 160 °C for 100 min. The yield of xylo-oligosaccharides was close to that obtained at 180 °C/40 min and 200 °C/10 min through the autohydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse. Compared to sugarcane bagasse alone, the xylo-oligosaccharide (degree of polymerization 2–5) yield from the acetyl-assisted autohydrolysis at 200 °C for 10 min was 52.99%. In addition, the yield of glucose from the solid residue following autohydrolysis pretreatment was 96.87% after 72 h of enzymatic hydrolysis. These results demonstrate that acetyl-assisted autohydrolysis is a promising method for the production of xylo-oligosaccharides.

Green liquor (GL) combined with ethanol (GL-ethanol) was selected to pretreat sugarcane bagasse (SCB). The results showed that the maximum lignin removal of 85.2% was achieved at 160 °C and a GL loading of 1.5 mL/g-dry substrate. The glucose yield of pretreated SCB increased with increased pretreatment temperature, and the maximum glucose yield of 97.7% was reached from SCB pretreated at 160 °C. Simons’ stain (SS) showed that the glucose yield was affected by cellulose accessibility instead of lignin content when lignin removal was > 70%. The cellulase adsorption isotherm fitted by the Langmuir model showed that the strength of interaction between the cellulase and substrate of GL-ethanol-100/1.5 (100 °C, 1.5 mL GL/g-dry substrate) was declining with increased pH. The adsorption was pH-dependent, and negatively controlled by the pH value. Electrostatic interactions can account for the pH-dependency of cellulase adsorption.

As a lignocellulosic material, wastepaper is a potential material for ethanol production. However, little research on the enzymatic hydrolysis of wastepaper pulp has been conducted. In this study, the enzymatic hydrolysis of different waste pulp fractions (R80 represents greater than 80-mesh wastepaper pulp, R80-180 represents the range of 80- to 180-mesh wastepaper pulp, and R180 represents smaller than 180-mesh waste paper pulp) were carried out at 50 °C, pH 4.8, for 96 h, with a substrate concentration of 5% (w/v) and cellulase loading of 18 FPU/g cellulose. In terms of the specific surface area, fiber structure, and surface morphology, R80-180 had the highest affinity to cellulase and therefore the highest glucose yield of 80.33%. R180 had the lowest glucose yield (55.36%) because of its high ash content (21.36%), which reduced the adsorption of cellulase to cellulose. The enzymatic hydrolysis of R80 mixed with R80 or R80-180 was also studied. Results indicated that adding R80-180 increased the glucose yield of R80. The highest glucose yield (82.57%) was obtained when 15% R80-180 was mixed with R80. However, the glucose content decreased when R180 was mixed with R80 because of its high ash content.

Furfural residues (FRs) is an industrial waste material with an enormous potential for bio-ethanol production. In this study, FRs were pretreated with green liquor (GL) combined with hydrogen peroxide (GL–H2O2) or ethanol (GL-ethanol). The wettability and electrostatic contributions of untreated and pretreated FRs was investigated as well as that of isolated lignin cellulolytic enzyme lignin (CEL) and cellulose. The results showed that the hydrophilicity of FRs was increased after GL–H2O2 and GL-ethanol pretreatment. Lignin is the key factor that affects the hydrophilicity of substrate. The cellulase binding for lignin was reduced due to the increase of hydrophilicity of lignin, resulting in the improvement of enzymatic hydrolysis. The electrostatic contributions was also an important factor that influenced the cellulase binding of lignin. After pretreatments, the negative charge of lignin was decreased. Accordingly, the cellulase binding capacity was reduced. This effect was more significant after the GL-ethanol pretreatment. Thus, the glucose yield of the substrate obtained from the GL-ethanol pretreatment (86.1 %) was larger than that from the GL–H2O2 pretreatment (82.2 %). Unlike the CEL, GL–H2O2 pretreatment increased the negative charge of cellulose. And the increase of negative charge improved the affinity of cellulose to cellulase via electrostatic attraction. The XPS analyses indicated that the carbonyl groups from lignin play an important role in decreasing the hydrophobicity of the substrates.

Surfactants are popular additives for the prevention of the inhibitory effect of lignin on cellulolytic enzymes. Saponin is a type of natural surfactant extracted from Gleditsia spp. In this study, the effect of saponin on the high-solids-loading enzymatic hydrolysis of furfural residues (FRs) with a lignin content of 45% was investigated. The optimal dosage of Gleditsia saponin (GS) was determined to be 25-fold greater than its critical micelle concentration (CMC; 0.16 g/L). The addition of GS increased the cellulose conversion by up to 52.63% in high-solids-loading enzymatic hydrolysis. Due to the addition of GS, a maximum cellulose conversion of 74.88% was achieved after FRs had hydrolyzed for 120 h at a solids loading of 20% (w/w) with 30 filter paper unit (FPU)/g-cellulose. The decrease in cellulose conversion was found to exhibit a linear correlation with an increase in the solids loadings from 20.0% to 27.5% (w/w). The surface structural variations of hydrolytic residues were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results indicated that the carbonyl groups of lignin facilitated the binding of GS to the surface of lignin, which resulted in a decrease in the adsorption of between the enzyme and lignin. Interestingly, GS could maintain enzymatic activity in the supernatants.

Furfural residues (FRs) were pretreated with ethanol and a green liquor (GL) catalyst to produce fermentable sugar. Anthraquinone (AQ) was used as an auxiliary reagent to improve delignification and reduce cellulose decomposition. The results showed that 42.7% of lignin was removed and 96.5% of cellulose was recovered from substrates pretreated with 1.0 mL GL/g of dry substrate and 0.4% (w/w) AQ at 140 °C for 1 h. Compared with raw material, ethanol–GL pretreatment of FRs increased the glucose yield from 69.0% to 85.9% after 96 h hydrolysis with 18 FPU/g-cellulose for cellulase, 27 CBU/g-cellulose for β-glucosidase. The Brauner–Emmett–Teller surface area was reduced during pretreatment, which did not inhibit the enzymatic hydrolysis. Owing to the reduced surface area, the unproductive binding of cellulase to lignin was decreased, thus improving the enzymatic hydrolysis. The degree of polymerization of cellulose from FRs was too low to be a key factor for improving enzymatic hydrolysis.

A potential commercial pretreatment for furfural residues (FRs) was investigated by using a combination of green liquor and hydrogen peroxide (GL–H 2 O 2 ). The results showed that 56.2% of lignin removal was achieved when the sample was treated with 0.6 g H 2 O 2 /g-DS (dry substrate) and 6 mL GL/g-DS at 80 °C for 3 h. After 96 h hydrolysis with 18 FPU/g-cellulose for cellulase, 27 CBU/g-cellulose for β-glucosidase, the glucose yield increased from 71.2% to 83.6%. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid was used to reduce the degradation of H 2 O 2 , the glucose yield increased to 90.4% after the addition of 1% (w/w). The untreated FRs could bind more easily to cellulase than pretreated FRs could. The structural changes on the surface of sample were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results indicated that the surface lignin could be effectively removed during pretreatment, thereby decreasing the enzyme–lignin binding activity. Moreover, the carbonyl from lignin plays an important role in cellulase binding.

In this study, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus were used to produce l(+)-lactic acid by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). The use of hydrolyzed yeast as cheap nutrients and mixtures of cellulosic materials and starchy materials as carbon source for l(+)-LA production was evaluated. Heat treatment (121 °C) was proven to be an effective method to improve the performances of yeast as nutrients for the fermentations using different carbon sources. The addition of yeast hydrolyzate obviously lowered the surface tension of medium and improved enzyme hydrolysis of furfural residue (FR) as the concentration was beyond 10 g/L. Carbon–nitrogen ratio, substrates composition, substrates feeding rate and enzyme-feeding strategy will affect the productivity of l(+)-LA production from mixed substrates. SSF of FR and corn saccharification liquid tends to obtain good yields, when the total WIS content is in 10 % and carbon–nitrogen ratio is about 30. This study provides an encouraging means of producing l(+)-LA from lignocellulosic resource and starchy resource, which could optimize the use of raw materials.

Sugarcane bagasse was pretreated by green liquor combined with ethanol (GL-Ethanol) and green liquor combined with H2O2 (GL-H2O2). After 72 h of enzymatic hydrolysis, the glucose yields of sugarcane bagasse pretreated with GL-Ethanol and GL-H2O2 were 97.7% and 41.7%, respectively. The reason that GL-Ethanol was more effective than GL-H2O2 has not been elucidated clearly. In this study, the chemical composition of the sugarcane bagasse and chemical structure of the isolated lignins after these two pretreatment methods were characterized to investigate their correlation with the enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse. The removal of lignins with GL-Ethanol pretreatment was much higher than that of GL-H2O2. In addition, the decomposition of cellulose was lower in the case of GL-Ethanol than in that of GL-H2O2. According to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies, the ester bonds (belonging to lignin-carbohydrate complex) could be broken during GL-Ethanol treatment. It was also found that the molecular weight of lignins obtained from GL-Ethanol was lower than that of lignins from GL-H2O2.

The steam pre-treatment with low severity preserves valuable biomass components, and further delignification with alkaline peroxide could improve hydrolysis. A combination of low severity steam pretreatment and alkaline peroxide post-treatment of Lespedeza stalks was investigated. The post-treatment of steam-pretreated Lespedeza stalks with alkaline peroxide significantly increased the cellulose content and changed the structure of the cellulose-rich fractions. A glucose yield of 503.5 mg g−1 raw material from enzyme hydrolysis was obtained when the steam-pretreated material (184 °C for 4 min) was post-treated with 2% hydrogen peroxide at 60 °C for 24 h with a substrate concentration of 3.3%. Its hydrolysis yield is 88.8%, which is higher than that of samples processed by steam pretreatment alone (63.7%). The samples obtained by post-treatment with alkaline peroxide were found to have a smoother surface and looser structure in scanning electron microscopy images. The isolated lignin preparations had a yield range from 10.9 to 14.7 (% dry matter). The lignin was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gel permeation chromatography. Alkaline peroxide treatment increased the thermal stability of lignin, and decreased the amounts of all functional groups. Depolymerization and repolymerization occurred during the alkaline peroxide treatment.

Furfural residues are by-products from the process of furfural production with corncobs. The cellulose in the residues can be used to produce ethanol, but lignin, the other main component in the residues, inevitably exerts unfavourable effects on the enzymatic hydrolysis process. In order to reveal the effects and make an efficient utilization of the lignin, the characteristics, especially the variation during furfural production, should first be investigated. In this paper, the milled wood lignin (MWL) of the furfural residual (FR) and corncob were separated and a comparative study of the MWL fractions was made in terms of the UV, FT-IR, 1 H and 13 C NMR spectra as well as the molecular weight and the thermal stability. It was found that the proportion of the three structure units in the two kinds of lignin fractions was different and that some reactions had taken place on the benzene rings during furfural manufacture. The methoxyls in the lignin structure units had been removed partially, and the groups conjugated with the benzene rings were destroyed. Moreover, the alcoholichydroxyl in the lignin of the corncob reduced and transformed into carbonyl. Both the degradation of the lignin and the condensation reactions have emerged during the furfural production.

The enzymatic saccharification of pretreated furfural residues with different lignin content was studied to verify the effect of lignin removal in the hydrolysis process. The results showed that the glucose yield was improved by increasing the lignin removal. A maximum glucose yield of 96.8% was obtained when the residue with a lignin removal of 51.4% was hydrolyzed for 108 h at an enzyme loading of 25 FPU/g cellulose. However, further lignin removal did not increase the hydrolysis. The effect of enzyme loading on the enzymatic hydrolysis was also explored in this work. It was concluded that a high glucose yield of 90% was achieved when the enzyme dosage was reduced from 25 to 15 FPU/g cellulose, which was cost-effective for the sugar and ethanol production. The structures of raw material and delignified samples were further characterized by XRD and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

A combination of steam explosion (SE) and chemical pretreatments, such as acid sulfite (AS), alkali (AL), and alkaline sulfite (ALS), were evaluated using bamboo. Low pressure steam explosion at 1.25 MPa for 4 min was first applied to the bamboo. Then, the pretreated bamboo was delignified using three chemical pretreatments. Enzymatic hydrolysis was also compared among the pretreated bamboo samples. It was found that SE-ALS could be a potential method for bamboo pretreatment, which led to the reduction of lignin from 25.15% to 1.74% at 165 °C for 2 h in 5% (w/v) Na2SO3 and 0.7% (w/v) NaOH; however, little cellulose was solubilized during ALS pretreatment. A maximum glucose yield of 99.35% was achieved during the enzymatic hydrolysis process when combined with the SE-ALS pretreatment. The SE-ALS method resulted in a lower degree of lignin condensation and increased delignification compared to the SE-AS method. In addition, the SE-ALS pretreatment protected carbohydrates from degradation better than the SE-AL methods.

This study reports four schemes to pretreat wet furfural residues (FRs) with sodium bisulfite for production of fermentable sugar. The results showed that non-detoxified FRs (pH 2-3) had great potential to lower the cost of bioconversion. The optimal process was that unwashed FRs were first pretreated with bisulfite, and the whole slurry was then directly used for enzymatic hydrolysis. A maximum glucose yield of 99.4% was achieved from substrates pretreated with 0.1 g NaHSO3/g dry substrate (DS), at a relatively low temperature of 100 °C for 3 h. Compared with raw material, enzymatic hydrolysis at a high-solid of 16.5% (w/w) specifically showed more excellent performance with bisulfite treated FRs. Direct bisulfite pretreatment improved the accessibility of substrates and the total glucose recovery. Lignosulfonate in the non-detoxified slurry decreased the non-productive adsorption of cellulase on the substrate, thus improving enzymatic hydrolysis.

Furfural residue (FR) is a waste lignocellulosic material with enormous potential for bioethanol production. In this study, bioethanol production from FR after delignification was compared. Hydrophilic variation was measured by conductometric titration to detect the relationship between hydrophilicity and bioethanol production. It was found that ethanol yield increased as delignification enhanced, and it reached up to 75.6% of theoretical yield for samples with 8.7% lignin. The amount of by-products decreased as delignification increased. New inflection points appeared in conductometric titration curves of samples that were partially delignified, but they vanished in the curves of the highly delignified samples. Total charges and carboxyl levels increased after slight delignification, and they decreased upon further delignification. These phenomena suggested some new hydrophilic groups were formed during pretreated delignification, which would be beneficial to enzymatic hydrolysis. However, some newly formed groups may act as toxicant to the yeast during simultaneous saccharification and fermentation.

Furfural residues (FRs) were pretreated with laccase or a laccase-mediator (1-hydroxybenzotriazole, HBT) system to produce fermentable sugar for bioethanol production. Compared to laccase-only pretreatment, laccase-mediator pretreatment dissolved more lignin. Approximately 10.5% of the initially present lignin was removed when FRs were treated with a laccase loading of 100 U/g of dry substrate in 1% (w/w) HBT at 48 °C for 24 h in an acetate buffer (pH 4.8). The enzymatic saccharification process was carried out by a combined laccase or laccase-mediator pretreatment without washing of the treated solids. The results showed that active laccase had a negative effect on the rate and yield of enzymatic hydrolysis. Laccase-oxidized HBT seriously reduced glucose yield. However, non-oxidized HBT increased glucose yield when laccase was deactivated at 121 °C for 20 min prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. The highest glucose yield, 80.9%, was obtained from the substrate pretreated with 100 U/g of dry substrate laccase and 1% (w/w) HBT at 48 °C for 24 h in an acetate buffer (pH 4.8). Furthermore, the structures of FRs before and after laccase-mediator pretreatment were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).

Background Recently, interest in the utilization of corncob residue (CCR, with high lignin of 45.1%) as a feedstock for bioethanol has been growing. Surfactants have been one of the most popular additives intended to prevent the inhibitory effect of lignin on cellulolytic enzymes, thereby improving hydrolysis. In this study, the effects of biosurfactant tea saponin (TS) on the enzymatic hydrolysis of CCR and the bonding behavior of cellulolytic enzymes to the substrate were investigated. The surface tension in the supernatant was also detected to obtain information about the characteristics and stability of TS. Results The glucose concentration was 17.15 mg/mL at 120 hours of hydrolysis with the low loading of cellulolytic enzymes (7.0 FPU/g cellulose and 10.5 BGU/g cellulose) and 5% CCR. The optimal dosage of TS was its critical micelle concentration (cmc, 1.80 mg/mL). The glucose yield was enhanced from 34.29 to 46.28 g/100 g dry matter by TS. The results indicate that TS can promote the adsorption of cellulolytic enzymes on the substrate and mediate the release of adsorbed enzymes. Meanwhile, TS improves the recovery of the cellulolytic enzymes after a hydrolysis cycle and prevents deactivation of the enzymes during the intense shaking process. The surface tension in supernatants of digested CCR with TS remained at 50.00 mN/m during the course of hydrolysis. It is interesting to note that biosurfactant TS can maintain the surface tension in supernatants, despite its digestibility by cellulolytic enzymes. Conclusions Serving as an accelerant of lignocellulose hydrolysis, TS can also be degraded by the cellulolytic enzymes and release glucose while retaining stability, which reduces the cost of both the cellulolytic enzymes and the additive. As the glucose from the TS could be utilized by yeast, further efforts will investigate the mechanism of function and the application of TS in the production of ethanol by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF).

A combination of steam explosion (SE) and alkaline peroxide (AP) used to pretreat bamboo was investigated. Steam explosion at 224 °C for 4 min was applied to bamboo, and the pretreated bamboo was delignified by alkaline peroxide. Enzymatic hydrolysis was compared in the pretreated samples. Steam pretreatment led to remarkable hemicellulose solubilization (63.2%). Lignin solubilization (93.1%) was achieved by alkaline peroxide treatment of steam-pretreated bamboo at 80 °C for 1 h in 0.88% (v/v) H2O2, whereas only 33.4% of lignin was solubilized when using raw bamboo. Pretreatment methods resulted in a low degree of polymerization and increased hydrolysis of cellulose. A maximum glucose yield of 90.5% was achieved with a combined steam explosion and alkaline peroxide pretreatment. The surface structure of treated bamboo and the adsorption of enzyme on the substrate were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Delignification decreased enzyme adsorption and increased enzymatic conversion. SEM analyses indicated that SE-AP pretreatment disrupted lignin networks and exposed crystalline cellulose in bamboo more effectively than SE or AP pretreatment alone.

Enzymatic hydrolysis of Gleditsia sinensis gum was performed to produce manno-oligosaccharides having functional applications as dietary fiber and prebiotics. The optimum hydrolysis conditions, including enzyme loading, temperature and time, from response surface methodology were 8.1 U/g, 57.4 °C and 34.1 h, respectively. The yield of DP 1-5 oligosaccharides was 75.9% (29.1 g/L). The Michaelis-Menten kinetics and molecular weight distribution were determined. The obtained oligosaccharides were further separated by HPLC and SEC, and the galactose distribution of G. sinensis gum was elucidated. Results indicated that G. sinensis gum has potential to produce value-added oligosaccharides in food industries.

Background Corn cob residue (CCR) is a kind of waste lignocellulosic material with enormous potential for bioethanol production. The moderated sulphite processes were used to enhance the hydrophily of the material by sulfonation and hydrolysis. The composition, FT-IR spectra, and conductometric titrations of the pretreated materials were measured to characterize variations of the CCR in different sulfite pretreated environments. And the objective of this study is to compare the saccharification rate and yield of the samples caused by these variations. Results It was found that the lignin in the CCR (43.2%) had reduced to 37.8%, 38.0%, 35.9%, and 35.5% after the sulfite pretreatment in neutral, acidic, alkaline, and ethanol environments, respectively. The sulfite pretreatments enhanced the glucose yield of the CCR. Moreover, the ethanol sulfite sample had the highest glucose yield (81.2%, based on the cellulose in the treated sample) among the saccharification samples, which was over 10% higher than that of the raw material (70.6%). More sulfonic groups and weak acid groups were produced during the sulfite pretreatments. Meanwhile, the ethanol sulfite treated sample had the highest sulfonic group (0.103 mmol/g) and weak acid groups (1.85 mmol/g) in all sulfite treated samples. In FT-IR spectra, the variation of bands at 1168 and 1190 cm-1 confirmed lignin sulfonation during sulfite pretreatment. The disappearance of the band at 1458 cm-1 implied the methoxyl on lignin had been removed during the sulfite pretreatments. Conclusions It can be concluded that the lignin in the CCR can be degraded and sulfonated during the sulfite pretreatments. The pretreatments improve the hydrophility of the samples because of the increase in sulfonic group and weak acid groups, which enhances the glucose yield of the material. The ethanol sulfite pretreatment is the best method for lignin removal and with the highest glucose yield.

Background: Enhancement of enzymatic digestibility by some supplementations could reduce enzyme loading and cost, which is still too high to realize economical production of lignocellulosic biofuels. A recent study indicates that yeast hydrolysates (YH) have improved the efficiency of cellulases on digestibility of furfural residues (FR). In the current work, the components of YH were separated by centrifugation and size exclusion chromatography and finally characterized in order to better understand this positive effect. Results: A 60.8% of nitrogen of yeast cells was remained in the slurry (YHS) after hydrothermal treatment. In the supernatant of YH (YHL), substances of high molecular weight were identified as proteins and other UV-absorbing compounds, which showed close molecular weight to components of cellulases. Those substances attributed to a synergetic positive effect on enzymatic hydrolysis of FR. The fraction of YHL ranged from 1.19 to 2.19 mL (elution volume) contained over 50% of proteins in YHL and had the best performance in stimulating the release of glucose. Experiment results proved the adsorption of proteins in YHL on lignin. Conclusions: Supplementation of cellulases with YH enhances enzymatic digestibility of FR mainly by a competitive adsorption of non-enzymatic substances on lignin. The molecular weight of these substances has a significant impact on their performance. Different strategies can be used for a good utilization of yeast cells in terms of biorefinery concept.