Hydrolysis behavior of bamboo fiber in formic acid reaction system.

The process of conversion of bamboo fiber into fermentable glucose in the formic acid reaction system was investigated using cross-polarization/magic angle spinning (13)C-nuclear magnetic resonance (CP/MAS (13)C NMR), X-ray diffraction. The results indicated that formic acid as an active agent was able to effectively penetrate into the interior space of the cellulose molecules, thus collapsing the rigid crystalline structure and allowing hydrolysis to occur easily in the amorphous zone as well as in the crystalline zone. The bamboo fiber was hydrolyzed using formic acid and 4% hydrochloric acid under mild conditions. The effects of temperature (55-75 degrees C), retention time (0-9 h) and catalyst, the concentration of glucose and the degradation pathway of glucose were analyzed. The main degradation pathway of glucose is that the hydroxyl group on the 2-carbon is protonated and cleaved off. Aluminum iso-propoxide prevented the degradation of glucose, and the acetone promoted the degradation of glucose to levulinic acid.