Catalyzed modified clean fractionation of prairie cordgrass integrated with hydrothermal post-treatment

The main purpose of this study was pretreatment of prairie cordgrass obtaining three fractions: lignin, hemicellulose and fermentable cellulose. Modified clean fractionation process (using ethyl acetate–ethanol–water mixture) was employed to extract lignin and hemicellulose fractions. Different proportions of constituents in the solvent mixture were tested. In order to improve lignin recovery, the process was catalyzed with sulfuric acid. Optimization was performed for fractionation processing conditions using lignin recovery and glucose yields as primary response variables. Optimal conditions resulted in a 51.33% lignin recovery, 53.82% hydrolysis glucose yield and 33.73% xylose yield in the aqueous fraction. To improve cellulose digestibility, solid fraction was subjected to hydrothermal post-treatment, for which optimal processing conditions were found, resulting in 78.93% hydrolysis glucose yield. This research represents a step forward for biomass pretreatment, and may open up new possibilities for utilization of prairie cordgrass.