Effect of Xylan and Lignin Removal by Hydrothermal Pretreatment on Enzymatic Conversion of Sugarcane Bagasse Cellulose for Second Generation Ethanol Production

This work was aimed to evaluate the effect of the removal of hemicellulose and lignin, by hydrothermal pretreatment, carried out at four different temperatures, namely 180, 185, 190 and 195 degrees C, for 10 min in a 20-L reactor, and alkaline delignification with 1.0 % (w/v) NaOH, at 100 degrees C for 1 h, on the enzymatic saccharification of sugarcane bagasse cellulose. For the material pretreated under the most severe conditions (1.0 % (w/v) NaOH, 100 degrees C, 1 h and 195 degrees C, 10 min), 95.8 % of the hemicellulosic fraction and 80.9 % of lignin were solubilised upon pretreatment and delignification respectively. The enzymatic conversion of the material obtained under those conditions reached 89.2 % of the initial cellulose, whereas it was 69.2 % for the pretreated but non-delignified material and only 6.0 % for raw bagasse. Models describing the effect of hemicellulose and lignin content on the enzymatic hydrolysis were developed. The statistical analysis of the results emphasized the significance of removal of the hemicellulose and lignin for improving the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose.