The hydrothermal-alkaline/oxygen two-step pretreatment combined with the addition of surfactants reduced the amount of cellulase for enzymatic hydrolysis of reed.

This study aimed to provide a low cost feasible pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis (EH) method for the effective dissolution of xylan and the high glucan digestibility of reed with a low enzyme loading. The combination of polyethylene glycol (PEG) 3000-enhanced EH and hydrothermal-alkaline/oxygen pretreatment was studied. Process conditions were optimized through response surface methodology. Three models of glucan conversion rate, pretreated solids yield and lignin removal rate were established, and their determination coefficient (R2) values were 0.9218, 0.7939, and 0.8156, respectively. The models and experiments were reliable and significant. The optimal conditions favored 94.5% xylan dissolution rate and 95.6% glucan digestibility by using a cellulase loading of 3 filter paper units (FPU)/g-pretreated solids, which obviously enhanced 30.7% of the glucan conversion rate. This method was applicable due to effective xylan dissolution, lignin removal, and EH with PEG 3000 addition, which can help saved 85% cellulase loading.