title: Supercritical water treatment for cello-oligosaccharide production from microcrystalline cellulose.
abstract: Microcrystalline cellulose was treated in supercritical water at 380 °C and at a pressure of 250 bar for 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6s. The yield of the ambient-water-insoluble precipitate and its average molar mass decreased with an extended treatment time. The highest yield of 42 wt% for DP2-9 cello-oligosaccharides was achieved after the 0.4s treatment. The reaction products included also 11 wt% ambient-water-insoluble precipitate with a DP(w) of 16, and 6.1 wt% monomeric sugars, and 37 wt% unidentified degradation products. Oligo- and monosaccharide-derived dehydration and retro-aldol fragmentation products were analyzed via a combination of HPAEC-PAD-MS, ESI-MS/MS, and GC-MS techniques. The total amount of degradation products increased with treatment time, and fragmented (glucosyl(n)-erythrose, glucosyl(n)-glycolaldehyde), and dehydrated (glucosyl(n)-levoglucosan) were identified as the main oligomeric degradation products from the cello-oligosaccharides.
authors.affiliation: Aalto University, Department of Forest Products Technology, PO Box 16300, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland. Electronic address: lasse.tolonen@aalto.fi.
authors.forename: Lasse K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Tolonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, PO Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: minna.juvonen@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Minna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juvonen
authors.affiliation: VTT, PO Box 1000, FI-02044 VTT, Finland. Electronic address: klaus.niemela@vtt.fi.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Niemelä
authors.affiliation: VTT, PO Box 1000, FI-02044 VTT, Finland. Electronic address: atte.mikkelson@vtt.fi.
authors.forename: Atte
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mikkelson
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, PO Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: maija.tenkanen@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Maija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tenkanen
authors.affiliation: Aalto University, Department of Forest Products Technology, PO Box 16300, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland. Electronic address: herbert.sixta@aalto.fi.
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sixta
mesh_terms: D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D011232:Chemical Precipitation; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry*; D011312:Pressure; D012995:Solubility; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; D014867:Water; D002482:Cellulose; C109691:microcrystalline cellulose
keywords: Biorefinery; Cellulose; Oligosaccharide; Prebiotics; Supercritical water