Coproduction of xylo-oligosaccharides and glucose from sugarcane bagasse in subcritical CO2-assisted seawater system

Abstract Abundant seawater resources can replace the shortage of freshwater resources. The co-production of xylo-oligosaccharides and glucose from sugarcane bagasse by subcritical CO2-assisted seawater pretreatment was studied in this paper. We investigated the effects of pretreatment conditions of temperature, CO2 pressure and reaction time on the yield of xylo-oligosaccharides in subcritical CO2-assisted seawater systems. The maximum xylo-oligosaccharide yield of 68.23% was obtained at 165 °C/2 MPa/5 min. After further enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid residue, the highest glucose yield of 94.45% was obtained. In this system, there is a synergistic effect of mixed ions in seawater and CO2 to depolymerize xylan into xylo-oligosaccharides with a lower degree of polymerization. At the same time, the addition of CO2 increased the pore size and porosity of sugarcane bagasse, improved the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis and increased the yield of glucose. Therefore, this study provides a more environmentally friendly and sustainable process for the co-production of xylo-oligosaccharides and glucose from sugarcane bagasse, and improves the utilization of seawater resources. Graphical Abstract