Pretreatment And Enzymatic Hydrolysis Of Miscanthus x giganteus: Influence Of Process Parameters

Miscanthus x giganteus is a perennial grass which grows rapidly and gives high yields of biomass
per hectare. It can be grown in poor quality soil and is non invasive. Due to its high cellulose and
hemicellulose content, it has attracted considerable attention as a possible energy crop to produce
bioethanol. Pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is a key step to unlocking the protective
structures so that the enzymatic hydrolysis of the carbohydrate fraction to monosugars can be
achieved more easily and with greater yield. In this study, Miscanthus x giganteus was delignified
by a chemical pre-treatment process using a mixture of formic acid/acetic acid (1). The treated
material was then hydrolyzed. By means of Box-Behnken experimental design and response surface
methodology we investigated the effect of cooking time (60, 120 and 180 min), formic acid/acetic
acid/water concentration (20/60/20, 30/50/20 and 40/40/20) and temperature (80, 90 and 107°C) on
the residual Klason lignin content and the % of digestibility. The optimal pretreatment process
parameters were identified.