Abstract:
This study presents alkali pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) and conditions were optimized to improve susceptibility to enzymatic saccharification. Maximal recovery of sugars was obtained with following pretreatment conditions: biomass loading, 5%; NaOH conc., 3%; and residence time at 121 degrees C, 60 min. Physicochemical changes in feedstock after alkali pretreatment, analyzed using SEM, FTIR and XRD, confirmed decrease in lignin content and effective de-polymerization after pretreatment. Optimization of biomass and enzyme loading, surfactant concentration and incubation time for enzymatic hydrolysis was done using a response surface Box Behnken design, which resulted in 94% saccharification efficiency. Surfactant concentration had a major role in hydrolysis and increase in biomass loading improved sugar yield.
