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Published on: October 24, 2016
Co-production of functional xylooligosaccharides and fermentable sugars from corncob with effective acetic acid
Hongyu Zhang1, Yong Xu1, Shiyuan Yu1
1Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, People's Republic of China; College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, People's Republic of China; Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Green Biomass-based Fuels and Chemicals, Nanjing 210037, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
A novel and green approach for the coproduction of xylooligosaccharides (XOS), in terms of a series of oligosaccharide components from xylobiose to xylohexose, and fermentable sugars was developed using the prehydrolysis of acetic acid that was fully recyclable and environmentally friendly, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. Compared to hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid, acetic acid hydrolysis provided the highest XOS yield of 45.91% and the highest enzymatic hydrolysis yield. More than 91% conversion of cellulose was achieved in a batch-hydrolysis using only a cellulase loading of 20FPU/g cellulose and even a high solid loading of 20% without any special strategies. The acetic acid pretreated corncob should be washed adequately before saccharification to achieve complete hydrolysis. Consequently, a mass balance analysis showed that 139.8g XOS, 328.1g glucose, 25.1g cellobiose, and 147.8g xylose were produced from 1000g oven dried raw corncob.
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