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Mild γ-Butyrolactone/Water Pretreatment for Highly Efficient Sugar Production from Corn Stover

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Abstract

In this study, γ-butyrolactone/water (GBL/H2O) was explored as a mild, efficient, and cost-effective binary solvent pretreatment to enhance hydrolyzability of corn stover (CS). Key pretreatment parameters—reaction time, temperature, and H2SO4 concentration—were systematically investigated for their effects on the physicochemical properties of CS. Specifically, increased temperature and acid concentration significantly decreased cellulose crystallinity (from 1.39 for untreated CS to 1.04 for CS pretreated by GBL/H2O with 100 mM H2SO4 at 120 °C for 1 h) and promoted lignin removal (47.3% for CS pretreated by GBL/H2O with 150 mM H2SO4 at 120 °C for 1 h). Acknowledging the cellulase’s limited hydrolysis efficiency, a dual-enzyme scheme using a low cellulase dosage (10 FPU/g) supplemented with β-glucosidase or xylanase was tested, enhancing hydrolysis of CS pretreated under low temperature–long duration and high temperature–short duration conditions, respectively. Optimum sugar release was obtained from CS pretreated with GBL/H2O and 150 mM H2SO4 at 120 °C for 1 h, achieving 98% glucan and 82.3% xylan conversion, compared with 53.9% and 17% of glucan and xylan conversion from untreated CS. GBL/H2O pretreatment outperformed other binary systems in literature, achieving the highest sugar conversions with lower enzyme loading. These results highlight the potential of GBL/H2O pretreatment for efficient biomass conversion, contributing to the goals of the green economy.

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Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation Youth Project with the approval number (No. 32201505). Supported by Natural Science Basic Research Project of Shaanxi Province with the approval number (Program No. 2022JM-119). Supported by Forestry Science and Technology Innovation Project of Shaanxi Province with the approval number of SXLK2022-02-4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, No.3 Taicheng Road, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

    Yu Yang, Xueliang Ma, Manzhu Wang, Xinyi Ji, Ziyu Liu, Jiangyao Wang, Yujin Ren & Lili Jia

  2. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Economic Plant Resources Development and Utilization, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

    Lili Jia

  3. Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Long Li

  4. Bamboo Research Institute, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Long Li

Authors
  1. Yu Yang
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  2. Xueliang Ma
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  4. Xinyi Ji
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  5. Long Li
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  7. Jiangyao Wang
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  8. Yujin Ren
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  9. Lili Jia
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Methodology and validation were performed by Yu Yang, Long Li and Lili Jia. Material preparation and data collection were performed by Yu Yang, Xueliang Ma, Manzhu Wang, Xinyi Ji, Ziyu Liu, Jiangyao Wang and Yujin Ren. Data analysis was performed Yu Yang, Xueliang Ma, Manzhu Wang, Xinyi Ji and Lili Jia. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yu Yang and Lili Jia. Drafted the work was performed by Lili Jia and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lili Jia.

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Yang, Y., Ma, X., Wang, M. et al. Mild γ-Butyrolactone/Water Pretreatment for Highly Efficient Sugar Production from Corn Stover. Appl Biochem Biotechnol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-024-04922-6

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