A blog from University of Borås

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Two articles on analytical methods for lignocelluloses pretreatment

Lignocelluloses are widely investigated as renewable substrates to produce biofuels, e.g., ethanol, methane, hydrogen, and butanol, as well as chemicals such as citric acid, lactic acid, and xanthan gum. However, lignocelluloses have a recalcitrance structure to resist microbial and enzymatic attacks; therefore, many physical, thermal, chemical, and biological pretreatment methods have been developed to open up their structure. The efficiency of these pretreatments was studied using a variety of analytical methods that address their image, composition, crystallinity, degree of polymerization, enzyme adsorption/desorption, and accessibility. We have recently published 2 open access papers in Bioresource Technology to address the advantages, drawbacks, approaches, practical details, and some points that should be considered in the experimental methods to reach reliable and promising conclusions are also discussed:

1- A critical review on analysis in pretreatment of lignocelluloses: degree of polymerization, adsorption/desorption, and accessibility

2- A critical review on analysis in pretreatment of lignocelluloses: degree of polymerization, adsorption/desorption, and accessibility