title: Pretreatment of switchgrass for sugar production with the combination of sodium hydroxide and lime.
abstract: Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and lime (Ca(OH)(2)) were innovatively used together in this study to improve the cost-effectiveness of alkaline pretreatment of switchgrass at ambient temperature. Based on the sugar production in enzymatic hydrolysis, the best pretreatment conditions were determined as: residence time of 6h, NaOH loading of 0.10 g/g raw biomass, NaOH addition at the beginning, Ca(OH)(2) loading of 0.02 g/g raw biomass, and biomass wash intensity of 100ml water/g raw biomass, at which the glucose and xylose yields were respectively 59.4% and 57.3% of the theoretical yields. The sugar yield of the biomass pretreated using the combination of 0.10 g NaOH/g raw biomass and 0.02 g Ca(OH)(2)/g raw biomass was found comparable with that of the biomass pretreated using 0.20 g NaOH/g raw biomass at the same conditions, while the chemical expense was remarkably reduced due to the low cost of lime and the reduced loading of NaOH.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Campus Box 7625, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7625, USA.
authors.forename: Jiele
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jay J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cheng
mesh_terms: D001234:Aspergillus niger / Q000378:metabolism; D018533:Biomass; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods; D017610:Calcium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D006868:Hydrolysis; D008031:Lignin / Q000737:chemistry; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D006109:Poaceae; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D014242:Trichoderma / Q000378:metabolism; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D017610:Calcium Compounds; D002241:Carbohydrates; D010087:Oxides; D014867:Water; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D002482:Cellulose; D008031:Lignin; C016538:lime