Organic Acid-Based Hemicellulose Fractionation and Cellulosic Ethanol Potential of Five <i>Miscanthus</i> Genotypes
Yasir Iqbal,
Yu Dai,
Shuai Xue,
Zili Yi,
Zhiyong Chen,
Meng Li,
Moritz von Cossel
Affiliations
Yasir Iqbal
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization, College of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Yu Dai
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization, College of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Shuai Xue
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization, College of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Zili Yi
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization, College of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Zhiyong Chen
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization, College of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Meng Li
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization, College of Bioscience & Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Moritz von Cossel
Department of Biobased Resources in the Bioeconomy (340b), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 23, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
The pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass such as Miscanthus grown on marginal agricultural land is very challenging and requires severe conditions to fractionate cell wall polymers for further valorization. The current study aimed to determine organic acid-based mild conditions to pretreat contrasting lignocellulosic Miscanthus genotypes for the efficient fractionation of cell wall components, with special focus on hemicellulose extraction. In doing so, five Miscanthus genotypes were subjected to four different acid treatments (sulfuric acid, oxalic acid, malonic acid, and citric acid) in a vertical high-pressure steam sterilizer. The results demonstrated that, among the organic acids, oxalic acid was identified as the most effective pretreatment solvent for hemicellulose separation, whereas citric acid yielded the highest amount of galacturonic acid, varying from 15 to 17 mg mL−1 across genotypes. One best performing genotype was selected for the enzymatic hydrolysis. Overall, M. floridulus genotypes exhibited the optimal quality traits for efficient bioconversion with second best in terms of ethanol production potential.
