title: Solvent-enabled nonenyzmatic sugar production from biomass for chemical and biological upgrading.
abstract: We recently reported a nonenzymatic biomass deconstruction process for producing carbohydrates using homogeneous mixtures of γ-valerolactone (GVL) and water as a solvent. A key step in this process is the separation of the GVL from the aqueous phase, enabling GVL recycling and the production of a concentrated aqueous carbohydrate solution. In this study, we demonstrate that phenolic solvents-sec-butylphenol, nonylphenol, and lignin-derived propyl guaiacol-are effective at separating GVL from the aqueous phase using only small amounts of solvent (0.5 g per g of the original water, GVL, and sugar hydrolysate). Furthermore, using nonylphenol, we produced a hydrolysate that supported robust growth and high yields of ethanol (0.49 g EtOH per g glucose) at an industrially relevant concentration (50.8 g L(-1) EtOH). These results suggest that using phenolic solvents could be an interesting solution for separating and/or detoxifying aqueous carbohydrate solutions produced using GVL-based biomass deconstruction processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 (USA).
authors.forename: Jeremy S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Luterbacher
authors.forename: David Martin
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Jacqueline M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rand
authors.forename: Ydna M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Questell-Santiago
authors.forename: Jher Hau
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yeap
authors.forename: Brian F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Pfleger
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dumesic
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D007783:Lactones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008031:Lignin / Q000737:chemistry; D010636:Phenols / Q000737:chemistry; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D007783:Lactones; D010636:Phenols; D012997:Solvents; D014867:Water; D008031:Lignin; C037556:gamma-valerolactone
keywords: biomass; biorefinery; catalysis; sugars; valerolactone