Utilizing cetyltrimethylammonium bromide assisted alkali pretreatment to improve monosaccharide production of wheat straw by intensifying lignin extraction.

• NaOH and CTAB pretreatment increased hydrolysis efficiency of wheat straw. • Increment of xylan and lignin removal of wheat straw was 8.2% and 25.8%. • Synergy between CTAB and NaOH enhanced wheat straw' accessibility. The alkali pretreatment has been widely applied for various lignocellulose to enhance its cellulosic utilization through addressing textural recalcitrance. However, the large consumption of alkali makes it challenging to obtain the desired results but also brings a series of environmental pollution. Hence, trace surfactants were used as auxiliaries to improve the sugar production of wheat straw (WS) in this work. The results displayed that the delignification and xylan removal of WS has been highly increased from 18.7% to 44.3% and from 75.6% to 83.8% with the addition of 10 g/L cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in 5 g/L NaOH pretreatment, leading to the collapse of tightly clustered structures in WS. Finally, the positive changes of intensifying lignin's extraction by CTAB enhanced the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency from 59.5% to 85.9%. This novel pretreatment improved the economic value of WS and provided favorable evidence for a case of utilization of CTAB in alkali pretreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]