Pretreatment for cellulose hydrolysis by carbon dioxide explosion

Cellulosic materials were treated with supercritical carbon dioxide to increase the reactivity of cellulose, thereby to enhance the rate and the extent of cellulose hydrolysis. In this pretreatment process, the cellulosic materials such as Avicel, recycled paper mix, sugarcane bagasse and the repulping waste of recycled paper are placed in a reactor under pressurized carbon dioxide at 35 degreesC for a controlled time period. Upon an explosive release of the carbon dioxide pressure, the disruption of the cellulosic structure increases the accessible surface area of the cellulosic substrate to enzymatic hydrolysis. Results indicate that supercritical carbon dioxide is effective for pretreatment of cellulose. An increase in pressure facilitates the faster penetration of carbon dioxide molecules into the crystalline structures, thus more glucose is produced from cellulosic materials after the explosion as compared to those without the pretreatment. This explosion pretreatment enhances the rate of cellulosic material hydrolysis as well as increases glucose yield by as much as 50%. Results from the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation tests also show the increase in the available carbon source from the cellulosic materials for fermentation to produce ethanol. As an alternative method, this supercritical carbon dioxide explosion has a possibility to reduce expense compared with ammonia explosion, and since it is operated at the low temperature, it will not cause degradation of sugars such as those treated with steam explosion due to the high-temperature involved.