Ultrasctructural characterization and enzymatic hydrolysis of chemomechanical pretreated sugarcane and sugarcane bagasse.

Author(s)

Fernanda Machado Mendes Carvalho

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Lorena.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL/ASDI)
• Defense date: 2014-08-21

Examining board members

Adriane Maria Ferreira Milagres; Celso Barbosa de Sant Anna Filho; Fernando Masarin; Júlio César dos Santos; João Paulo Alves Silva

• Advisor: Adriane Maria Ferreira Milagres

Abstract

The present work aims to study the changes occurring in sugar cane, with different in structure and chemical compositions, by sulfite-alkaline pre-treatment. Removing lignin and hemicellulose as well as introducing sulfonic groups in sugar cane pretreated with alkaline sulfite made cellulose hydrolysis easier. Understanding the chemical and physical alterations occurring during this pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials is fundamental for the generation of effective pretreatment methods. In the present work, sugarcane bagasse and also sugar cane internodes, selected from experimental hybrid plants, were pretreated with the alkaline-sulfite process under mild conditions with varied cooking times. The first 30 min of pretreatment of sugar cane bagasse, which removed approximately half of the initial lignin and 30% of hemicellulose seemed responsible for a significant enhancement of the cellulose conversion level, which reached 64%. After the first 30 min of pretreatment, delignification increased slightly and hemicellulose removal was not enhanced. However, the process continued to introduce acid groups into the residual lignin that enhanced the fiber swelling up to 120 min of cooking. The fiber widths increased from 10,4 ?m in the untreated bagasse to 30 ?m in the 120 min-pretreated material. These changes were responsible for an additional increase in the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis of the cellulose, which reached 92%. Experimental hybrids with less original lignin presented higher initial hydrolysis rates than reference sugar cane and required lower time of pretreatment to achieve the total cellulose conversion. Different regions (pith, interface, rind and outermost fraction) of the internodes of types of sugarcanes were hydrolyzed by cellulases. The pretreatment of the interface, rind and outermost fraction with alkaline sulfite produced less recalcitrant substrates with increasing reaction time and resulted in improvement enzymatic hydrolysis. Several techniques enabling the study of surface morphological and chemical characteristics were used to evaluate the changes occurring during the pretreatment step. The chemical treatment caused intense delignification and morphological changes on the sugar cane fiber surfaces. The reduction in the absorption at 285 nm and 315 nm of the cell walls of the fibers, parenchyma and vessel, substantially increased the values of enzymatic conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) indicated that the fibers from rind regions and especially from the interface showed collapsed cell walls after partial delignification. After the alkaline sulfite treatment, X-ray photoelectrom spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) data showed increased signal intensities on the fibers surfaces assigned to carbohydrates of some samples. In accordance, the lignin signals diminished on the fiber surfaces of the same samples. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/08826-0 - Ultrastructural characterization and enzymatic hydrolysis of chemomechanical pretreated sugar cane and sugar cane bagasse
• Grantee: Fernanda Machado Mendes Carvalho
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate