Supercritical water treatment for cello-oligosaccharide production from microcrystalline cellulose

Microcrystalline cellulose was treated in supercritical water at 380 °C and at a pressure of 250 bar for 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6s. The yield of the ambient-water-insoluble precipitate and its average molar mass decreased with an extended treatment time. The highest yield of 42 wt% for DP2-9 cello-oligosaccharides was achieved after the 0.4s treatment. The reaction products included also 11 wt% ambient-water-insoluble precipitate with a DP(w) of 16, and 6.1 wt% monomeric sugars, and 37 wt% unidentified degradation products. Oligo- and monosaccharide-derived dehydration and retro-aldol fragmentation products were analyzed via a combination of HPAEC-PAD-MS, ESI-MS/MS, and GC-MS techniques. The total amount of degradation products increased with treatment time, and fragmented (glucosyl(n)-erythrose, glucosyl(n)-glycolaldehyde), and dehydrated (glucosyl(n)-levoglucosan) were identified as the main oligomeric degradation products from the cello-oligosaccharides.