Low acid hydrothermal fractionation of Giant Miscanthus for production of xylose-rich hydrolysate and furfural

• Published in: Bioresource technology 2016-10, Vol.218, p.367-372
• Main Authors: Kim, Tae Hyun, Ryu, Hyun Jin, Oh, Kyeong Keun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical Fractionation - methods; Decomposition; Degradation; Furfural; Poaceae - chemistry; Pretreatment; Sulfuric acid; Sulfuric Acids; Xylan; Xylose - isolation & purification
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.06.106

•LAH (low acid hydrothermal) fractionation process was optimized.•Xylan degradation, xylose recovery, and xylose decomposition were evaluated.•Furfural production rate was high at early LAH fractionation stage, then decreased.•Xylose-rich hydrolyzate and glucan-rich residual solid were obtained. Low acid hydrothermal (LAH) fractionation was developed for the effective recovery of hemicellulosic sugar (mainly xylose) from Miscanthus sacchariflorus Goedae-Uksae 1 (M. GU-1). The xylose yield was maximized at 74.75% when the M. GU-1 was fractionated at 180°C and 0.3wt.% of sulfuric acid for 10min. At this condition, the hemicellulose (mainly xylan) degradation was 86.41%. The difference between xylan degradation and xylose recovery yield, i.e., xylan loss, was 11.66%, as indicated by the formation of decomposed products. The furfural, the value added biochemical product, was also obtained by 0.42g/L at this condition, which was 53.82% of furfural production yield based on the xylan loss. After then, the furfural production continued to increase to a maximum concentration of 1.87g/L, at which point the xylan loss corresponded to 25.87%.