Ultrafast fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass by microwave-assisted deep eutectic solvent pretreatment.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have received increasing attention in recent years as designer solvents for bioprocessing. In this study, ultrafast microwave-assisted DES pretreatment was developed for lignocellulose fractionation. The pretreatment was conducted for 45 s with microwave irradiation at 800 W using a DES composed of choline chloride and lactic acid (ChCl: LA). The results indicated that such pretreatment was highly effective in removing lignin and xylan while retaining most of cellulose in the pretreated solids. The ultrafast fractionation increased the cellulose digestibility by 2-5 folds. Switchgrass gave a similar glucose yield to corn stover but experienced less cellulose loss during the pretreatment. Miscanthus was also substantially fractionated but showed lower digestibility than switchgrass and corn stover. Lignin was readily recoverable with relatively high purity from all the pretreatment liquor. Our study demonstrated an innovative ultrafast pretreatment process with superior effectiveness for biomass fractionation and cellulose digestibility improvement as well as lignin extraction.

[1]  Enas Nashef,et al.  Applicability evaluation of Deep Eutectic Solvents-Cellulase system for lignocellulose hydrolysis. , 2015, Bioresource technology.

[2]  M. Galbe,et al.  Simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation of glucose and xylose in steam-pretreated corn stover at high fiber content with Saccharomyces cerevisiae TMB3400. , 2006, Journal of biotechnology.

[3]  J. T. Green,et al.  Long-term yield potential of switchgrass-for-biofuel systems. , 2006 .

[4]  L. Segal',et al.  An Empirical Method for Estimating the Degree of Crystallinity of Native Cellulose Using the X-Ray Diffractometer , 1959 .

[5]  M. Delwiche,et al.  Methods for Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Efficient Hydrolysis and Biofuel Production , 2009 .

[6]  G. Najafi,et al.  Lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol, a comprehensive review with a focus on pretreatment , 2013 .

[7]  L. Lucia,et al.  The synthesis and absorption dynamics of a lignin-based hydrogel for remediation of cationic dye-contaminated effluent , 2016 .

[8]  S. Wongkasemjit,et al.  Enhancement of enzymatic hydrolysis of corncob by microwave-assisted alkali pretreatment and its effect in morphology , 2013, Cellulose.

[9]  Christophe Blecker,et al.  Optimization of formic/acetic acid delignification of Miscanthus × giganteus for enzymatic hydrolysis using response surface methodology , 2012 .

[10]  Y. Ni,et al.  Enhancing cellulose accessibility of corn stover by deep eutectic solvent pretreatment for butanol fermentation. , 2016, Bioresource technology.

[11]  Wenshuai Chen,et al.  Efficient Cleavage of Lignin–Carbohydrate Complexes and Ultrafast Extraction of Lignin Oligomers from Wood Biomass by Microwave‐Assisted Treatment with Deep Eutectic Solvent , 2017, ChemSusChem.

[12]  J. Muir,et al.  Hydrothermal and microwave assisted alkali pretreatment for fractionation of arecanut husk , 2017 .

[13]  X. Hou,et al.  Significantly enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis of rice straw via a high-performance two-stage deep eutectic solvents synergistic pretreatment. , 2017, Bioresource technology.

[14]  Cristóbal N. Aguilar,et al.  Microwave heating processing as alternative of pretreatment in second-generation biorefinery: An overview , 2017 .

[15]  Qinghua Feng,et al.  Preparation and characterization of a temperature-sensitive lignin-based Hydrogel , 2011, BioResources.

[16]  Amie D. Sluiter,et al.  Determination of Structural Carbohydrates and Lignin in Biomass , 2004 .

[17]  Shuqian Xia,et al.  Facile pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass using deep eutectic solvents. , 2016, Bioresource technology.

[18]  Zhu Chen,et al.  Reducing biomass recalcitrance via mild sodium carbonate pretreatment. , 2016, Bioresource technology.

[19]  Jian Shi,et al.  Impact of Dilute Sulfuric Acid, Ammonium Hydroxide, and Ionic Liquid Pretreatments on the Fractionation and Characterization of Engineered Switchgrass , 2017, BioEnergy Research.

[20]  K. Ninomiya,et al.  Microwave pretreatment of lignocellulosic material in cholinium ionic liquid for efficient enzymatic saccharification , 2014 .

[21]  J. A. Wood,et al.  Deep eutectic solvent pretreatment and subsequent saccharification of corncob. , 2015, Bioresource technology.

[22]  Yucai He,et al.  Enhancing the enzymatic saccharification of bamboo shoot shell by sequential biological pretreatment with Galactomyces sp. CCZU11-1 and deep eutectic solvent extraction , 2017, Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering.

[23]  Robert B. Mitchell,et al.  Chemical composition and response to dilute-acid pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of alfalfa, reed canarygrass, and switchgrass , 2006 .

[24]  A. Kumar,et al.  Natural deep eutectic solvent mediated pretreatment of rice straw: bioanalytical characterization of lignin extract and enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated biomass residue , 2016, Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

[25]  R. Rogers,et al.  Microwave-assisted dissolution and delignification of wood in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate. , 2013, Bioresource technology.

[26]  Ashok Pandey,et al.  Biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass--An overview. , 2016, Bioresource technology.

[27]  S. Yusup,et al.  Choline chloride (ChCl) and monosodium glutamate (MSG)-based green solvents from optimized cactus malic acid for biomass delignification. , 2017, Bioresource technology.

[28]  K. Kang,et al.  Designed for deconstruction--poplar trees altered in cell wall lignification improve the efficacy of bioethanol production. , 2012, The New phytologist.

[29]  M. Wolcott,et al.  Unique low-molecular-weight lignin with high purity extracted from wood by deep eutectic solvents (DES): a source of lignin for valorization , 2016 .

[30]  Maaike C. Kroon,et al.  New natural and renewable low transition temperature mixtures (LTTMs): screening as solvents for lignocellulosic biomass processing , 2012 .

[31]  C. Wan,et al.  Fungal pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. , 2012, Biotechnology advances.

[32]  François Jérôme,et al.  Deep eutectic solvents: syntheses, properties and applications. , 2012, Chemical Society reviews.