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Impact of mild and harsh conditions of formic acid-based organosolv pretreatment on biomass fractionation of sugarcane tops

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Abstract

This study puts emphasis on the impact of formic acid-based organosolv (FAOS) pretreatment on sugarcane tops (SCT) for biomass fractionation (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) under mild and harsh pretreatment conditions. The cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin contents of SCT were 35.0 ± 0.4%, 30.3 ± 0.5%, and 17.0 ± 0.7%, respectively. One hundred twenty-five degree Celsius pretreatment temperature, 90 min pretreatment time, and 1:7.5 solid to liquid ratio were selected as the best conditions for FAOS pretreatment of SCT. Under these conditions, equivalent to 392 ± 4 kg pretreated SCT was obtained from 1 tonne of moisture-free basis SCT, which contained 296 ± 3 kg cellulose, 11.1 ± 0.5 kg hemicellulose, 15.7 ± 0.3 kg lignin, 8.00 ± 0.2 kg extractives, and 53.4 ± 0.9 kg ash. Pretreatment temperature and time higher than the best-selected values (125 °C and 90 min) adversely affected SCT fractionation due to damage of fiber surface, high lignin content in pSCT, and lower solids recovery in the hydrolyzate.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Director, Avantha Centre for Industrial Research and Development (ACIRD), Yamuna Nagar, for providing the infrastructure to carry out this research work.

Funding

The authors are grateful to the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for providing the Research Grant (BT/PR20671/PBD/26/528/2016) to carry out this research project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Avantha Centre for Industrial Research & Development, Paper Mill Campus, Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, 135001, India

    Puneet Pathak, Ankush Gupta & Nishi Kant Bhardwaj

  2. Department of Biosciences & Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India

    Arun Goyal

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, 781039, India

    Vijayanand Suryakant Moholkar

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  1. Puneet Pathak
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Correspondence to Nishi Kant Bhardwaj.

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Pathak, P., Gupta, A., Bhardwaj, N.K. et al. Impact of mild and harsh conditions of formic acid-based organosolv pretreatment on biomass fractionation of sugarcane tops. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 11, 2027–2040 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00629-w

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