title: Reducing sugars production from corncobs: a comparative study of chemical and biotechnological methods.
abstract: Two commonly used chemical pretreatment processes, sulphuric acid, and sodium hydroxide, were tested to provide comparative performance data. A connection between solid to liquid ratio (S/L) and sugars released was observed with an increase in S/L ratio between 0.02 and 0.2. Enzymatic digestibility of 1 M of NaOH-pretreated corncobs were released 210.7 mg ml(-1) of sugars. Further, compared with different concentrations of acid pretreatments at 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, and 0.5 M concentrations, sodium hydroxide pretreatment of corncob substantially increased accessibility and digestibility of cellulose. Another additional observation made was whole-cell and crude enzymatic hydrolysis of different concentrations of acid and NaOH (0.05, 0.1, 0.25 M)-treated materials released lower amount of sugars compared with the sugars released (310.9 mg ml(-1)) with whole-cell hydrolysis of 1 M of NaOH-treated corncobs. NaOH-pretreated corncobs contained higher content of sugars and which is more suitable for production of reducing sugars.
authors.affiliation: Bio Engineering and Environmental Center (BEEC), Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR), Tarnaka, Hyderabad, 500 607, India, pravichandra@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ravichandra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Potumarthi
authors.forename: Rama Raju
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Baadhe
authors.forename: Aparna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pisipati
authors.forename: Annapurna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jetty
mesh_terms: D000468:Alkalies / Q000737:chemistry; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002480:Cellulase / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006868:Hydrolysis; D020075:Phanerochaete / Q000201:enzymology; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide / Q000494:pharmacology; D013464:Sulfuric Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000468:Alkalies; D002241:Carbohydrates; D013464:Sulfuric Acids; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D002480:Cellulase; C033158:sulfuric acid