Enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse with ferric chloride pretreatment and surfactant

A FeCl₃ pretreatment methodology was developed to convert raw sugarcane bagasse to highly digestible pretreated solid and selectively extract up to ∼100% of the hemicellulose from lignocellulosic biomass. FeCl₃ pretreated solids yielded a quite high fermentable sugar yield compared to the native material. In addition, characterization of raw material and pretreated solid by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis was carried out to better understand how hemicellulose removal affected subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. Furthermore, the addition of surfactants during enzymatic hydrolysis achieved higher glucose yields. 82.3% of glucose could be obtained with addition of BSA, combined with that generated during pretreatment process, the total glucose yield reached 42.2g/100g raw material, representing 93.8% of glucose in the raw sugarcane bagasse. The FeCl₃ process offered the potential to co-produce xylose-derived and glucose-derived chemicals in the bio-refinery.