An integrated hydrothermal and ball-milling approach for the co-production of glucose, xylose and residual lignin from Moso bamboo

Abstract

Clean and efficient pretreatment is critical for the sustainable development of bamboo industry. In this study, a combination of hydrothermal pretreatment (including AlCl₃ and glycerol) and ball-milling were proposed to efficiently facilitating co-production of xylose, glucose and residual lignin from moso bamboo. The results showed that the ball-milling process before hydrothermal pretreatment destroyed the compact structure of bamboo, and 44.5% xylose was obtained after hydrothermal pretreatment at 150 °C for 30 min. The 5 mins’ ball-milling process significantly reduced the “biomass recalcitrance” of the hydrothermal substrate. After 24 h of rapid enzymatic hydrolysis, the glucose yield increased from 32.6% to 81.3%, compared with 5.8% of the untreated bamboo. Finally, this method realized the effective isolation of enzymatic lignin with high-yield (87.0%), acceptable purity (84.3%) and non-condensed structure. In conclusion, the proposed strategy is a green, clean, and efficient strategy for the high-efficiency deconstruction and high-value utilization of bamboo resources.