Biorefinery Cascade Processing For Converting Corncob To Xylooligosaccharides And Glucose By Maleic Acid Pretreatment
Abstract Corncob as an abundance and low-cost waste resource has received increasing attention to produce value added chemicals, it is rich in xylan and regarded as the most preferable feedstock for preparing xylooligosaccharides, which possesses highly commercial value due to a range of health benefits. The strategy with xylooligosaccharides as core products can cut costs and improve economic efficiency of biorefinery. Therefore, a cascade processing for converting corncob to xylooligosaccharides and glucose by sequential maleic acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis was design. Based on overarching aim of this study that maximally yielding xylooligosaccharides, corncob was first subjected to response surface methodology experimental procedure for optimizing the conditions. Correspondingly, a maximum xylooligosaccharides yield of 52.9% was achieved with 0.5% maleic acid at 155 °C for 26 min. Maleic acid, a non-toxic and edible catalyst, was able to effectively hydrolyze xylan into xylooligosaccharides and simultaneously generate a positive pretreated effect for improve the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency. Finally, an enzymatic hydrolysis yield of 87.5% was achieved from maleic acid-treated corncob at 10% solids loading. This cascade processing may provide a novel strategy for the other biomass wastes utilization.