Rice Science ›› 2021, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (5): 501-510.DOI: 10.1016/j.rsci.2021.07.010

• Research Paper • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Steam Pretreatment of Rice Hulls to Release Fermentable Saccharides: An Approach to Improve Recovery of (Hemi)Cellulosic Sugars Through Multivariate Design

Montipó Sheila1,2(), Roslander Christian1, Camassola Marli2, Galbe Mats1, Wallberg Ola1   

  1. 1Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P. O. Box 124, Lund SE-221 00, Sweden
    2Biotechnology Institute, University of Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul 95070-560, Brazil
  • Received:2020-07-26 Accepted:2021-01-05 Online:2021-09-28 Published:2021-09-28

Abstract:

The conversion of rice hulls into fermentable saccharides was explored through steam pretreatment employing 2.5% SO2. The interaction between temperature and time was assessed by means of the response surface method to achieve optimum contents of C6-sugars in water-insoluble solids (WIS) and C5-sugars in the liquor. Pretreatment carried out at 218 ºC for 2.3 min released liquor containing 55.4 g/L of sugars (29.1 g/L of xylose). In parallel, the WIS was subjected to enzymatic saccharification using different solid and enzyme loads via an experimental design: assays using 22.0% WIS and 20.0 filter paper units (FPU)/g led to 90.6 g/L of glucose, corresponding to a yield of 86.4% and an overall yield of 72.4%. The data reported are the highest ever found for such raw material, making it attractive to compete with conventional lignocellulosic biomass.

Key words: lignocellulosic feedstock, sulfur dioxide, high solid loading, hydrolysis, central composite rotatable design