BioResources (Feb 2017)
Dilute Sulfuric Acid Hydrolysis of Pennisetum (sp.) Hemicellulose
Abstract
Dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis of Pennisetum (sp.) hemicellulose was investigated in this work. The hemicellulose was obtained by ethanol precipitation of hydrolysate produced via the microwave-assisted H2O2-NaOH extraction from the Pennisetum (sp.). Acid hydrolysis was performed by varying the process parameters, including the sulfuric acid concentration, hydrolysis temperature, solid to liquor ratio, and the reaction time. The xylose yield was selected as the target of process optimization and the orthogonal experiment of L9 (34) was designed to optimize the process conditions. The highest xylose yield of 86.5% could be obtained under the conditions of an acid concentration of 1%, the hydrolysis temperature of 105 °C, a solid to liquor ratio of 1:15, and a reaction time of 4 h. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis confirmed that most of the hemicellulose had been depolymerized into xylose.
