Biomass pretreatment is a key step in biorefinery industry to liberate polysaccharides from the recalcitrant structure of the plant cell wall for enzymatic saccharification and biopolymer fractionation. In this study, glycerol thermal processing (GTP) as a novel pretreatment method is described by combining industrially proven polymer-processing equipment with a nontoxic solvent that plasticizes and disrupts the cell wall structure. The GTP pretreated sweet gum (liquidambar styraciflua) samples can be recovered in a usable form without significant polysaccharides degradation.  After GTP pretreatment, lignin became extractable without aids of catalysts. Also, the pretreated sweet gum contained more than 80% xylan which was further isolated for future application. The improved enzymatic saccharification was observed for both GTP pretreated sweet gum and the pretreated samples after lignin extraction. Structural analysis of the pretreated biomass showed an increase in crystallinity and specific surface area as the pretreatment severity increased. Overall, the GTP pretreatment is shown to offer a route to fractionate the polysaccharides and lignin component within the recalcitrant cell wall for value added applications, as well as enhance the enzymatic saccharification for the biofuel industry.

Glycerol thermal processing as a new pretreatment to fractionate biopolymers and improve enzymatic saccharification

247th National Meeting (2014)

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