Abstract
Lignocellulosic biomass, such as wood, grass, agricultural, and forest residues, are potential resources for the production of bioethanol. The current biochemical process of converting biomass to bioethanol typically consists of three main steps: pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation. For this process, pretreatment is probably the most crucial step since it has a large impact on the efficiency of the overall bioconversion. The aim of pretreatment is to disrupt recalcitrant structures of cellulosic biomass to make cellulose more accessible to the enzymes that convert carbohydrate polymers into fermentable sugars. This paper reviews several leading acidic, neutral, and alkaline pretreatments technologies. Different pretreatment methods, including dilute acid pretreatment (DAP), steam explosion pretreatment (SEP), organosolv, liquid hot water (LHW), ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX), soaking in aqueous ammonia (SAA), sodium hydroxide/lime pretreatments, and ozonolysis are intensively introduced and discussed. In this minireview, the key points are focused on the structural changes primarily in cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin during the above leading pretreatment technologies.
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Abbreviations
- AFEX:
-
Ammonia fiber expansion
- CrI:
-
Crystallinity index
- CS:
-
Combined severity
- DAP:
-
Dilute acid pretreatment
- DP:
-
Degree of polymerization
- HW:
-
Hardwood
- HMF:
-
5-Hydroxymethylfurfural
- LCC:
-
Lignin-carbohydrate complex
- LHW:
-
Liquid hot water
- LODP:
-
Leveling-off degree of polymerization
- NMR:
-
Nuclear magnetic resonance
- SAA:
-
Soaking in aqueous ammonia
- SEP:
-
Steam explosion pretreatment
- SW:
-
Softwood
- XRD:
-
X-ray diffraction
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31300483), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (Grant No. BK20130971), and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).
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Xu, Z., Huang, F. Pretreatment Methods for Bioethanol Production. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 174, 43–62 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-014-1015-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-014-1015-y