Combined steam pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of starch-free wheat fibers.

Steam treatment of an industrial process stream, denoted starch-free wheat fiber, was investigated to improve the formation of monomeric sugars in subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis for further bioconversion into ethanol. The solid fraction in the process stream, derived from a combined starch and ethanol factory, was rich in arabinose (21.1%), xylose (30.1%), and glucose (18.6%), in the form of polysaccharides. Various conditions of steam pretreatment (170-220 degrees C for 5-30 min) were evaluated, and their effect was assessed by enzymatic hydrolysis with 2 g of Celluclast + Ultraflo mixture/100 g of starch-free fiber (SFF) slurry at 5% dry matter (DM). The highest overall sugar yield for the combined steam pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis, 52 g/100 g of DM of SFF, corresponding to 74% of the theoretical, was achieved with pretreatment at 190 degrees C for 10 min followed by enzymatic hydrolysis.