Abstract
Lignocellulosic biomass represents a suitable feedstock for production of biofuels and bioproducts. Its chemical composition depends on many aspects (e.g. plant source, pre-processing) and it has impact on productivity of industrial bioprocesses. Numerous methodologies can be applied for biomass characterisation, with acid hydrolysis being a particularly relevant step. This study intended to assess the most suitable procedures for acid hydrolysis, taking Eucalyptus globulus bark as a case study. For that purpose, variation of temperature (90–120 °C) was evaluated over time (0–5 h), through monosaccharides and oligosaccharides contents and degradation. For glucose, the optimal conditions were 100 °C for 2.5 h, reaching a content of 48.6 wt.%. For xylose, the highest content (15.2 wt.%) was achieved at 90 °C for 2 h, or 120 °C for 0.5 h. Maximum concentrations of mannose and galactose (1.0 and 1.7 wt.%, respectively) were achieved at 90 and 100 °C (2–3.5 h) or at 120 °C (0.5–1 h). These results revealed that different hydrolysis conditions should be applied for different sugars. Using this approach, total sugar quantification in eucalyptus bark was increased by 4.3%, which would represent a 5% increase in the ethanol volume produced, considering a hypothetical bioethanol production yield. This reflects the importance of feedstock characterization on determination of economic viability of industrial processes.