Features correlated to improved enzymatic digestibility of corn stover subjected to alkaline hydrogen peroxide...

As one of the leading pretreatment approaches, alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) pretreatment can enhance the enzymatic digestibility of lignocellulose significantly. In this study, the glucan conversion of AHP pretreated corn stover (CS) without and with water-wash were 28.4% and 50.0% higher than that of raw material, respectively. In order to systematically understand its mechanism, analyses of the features of AHP pretreated and raw CS, such as specific surface area, crystallinity, zeta potential, water holding capacity and swelling capacity and others were performed. The weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of the sugars in the hydrolysate and the particle size distribution of the hydrolysis residue were also analyzed. These results explained why AHP-CS was more conducive to enzymatic hydrolysis. The deeper reason was that the removal of lignin and the destruction of hydrogen bonds within cellulose and hemicellulose increased the accessibility of cellulose and reduced the non-productive adsorption of cellulase, which significantly improved the enzymatic digestibility.