Xylose production from giant reed (Arundo donax L.): Modeling and optimization of dilute acid hydrolysis

Statistical modeling and optimization of dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis of potential energy crop giant reed (Arundo donax L.) has been performed using response surface methodology. Central composite rotatable design was applied to assess the effect of acid concentration, reaction time and temperature on efficiency and selectivity of xylan polysaccharide conversion to xylose. Second-order polynomial model was fitted to experimental data to find the optimum reaction conditions by multiple regression analysis. The monomeric xylose recovery ca. 94% (vs. 93% predicted) was achieved under optimized hydrolysis conditions (1.27% acid concentration, 141.6°C and 36.4min), confirming the high validity of the developed model. The low content of glucose (2.7%) and monosaccharide degradation products (0.9% furfural and 0.7% 5-hydroxymethylfurfural) provided a high quality xylose-rich subtract, ready for subsequent biochemical conversion to value-added products. The solid xylan-free residue was easily converted to fermentable sugars resulting in cellulose digestibility of 70% vs. 9% for untreated biomass.