Understanding Multiscale Structural Changes During Dilute Acid Pretreatment of Switchgrass and Poplar

Pingali, Sai Venkatesh; Urban, Volker S.; Heller, William T.; Mcgaughey, Joseph; O'Neill, Hugh; Foston, Marcus B.; Li, Hongjia; Wyman, Charles E.; Myles, Dean A.A.; Langan, Paul; Ragauskas, Arthur J.; Davison, Brian H.; Evans, Barbara R.

doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b01803

Understanding Multiscale Structural Changes During Dilute Acid Pretreatment of Switchgrass and Poplar

Journal Article · Mon Dec 05 00:00:00 EST 2016 · ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b01803· OSTI ID:1830153

^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]; Mcgaughey, Joseph ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[2]; Li, Hongjia ^[3]; Wyman, Charles E. ^[3]; ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[4]; ^[1]; ^[1]

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Biofuels produced from lignocellulosic biomass hold great promise as a renewable alternative energy and fuel source. To realize a cost and energy efficient approach, a fundamental understanding of the deconstruction process is critically necessary to reduce biomass recalcitrance. Here, the structural and morphological changes over multiple scales (5–6000 Å) in herbaceous (switchgrass) and woody (hybrid poplar) biomass during dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment were explored using neutron scattering and X-ray diffraction. Switchgrass undergoes a larger increase (20–84 Å) in the average diameter of the crystalline core of the elementary cellulose fibril than hybrid poplar (19–50 Å). Switchgrass initially forms lignin aggregates with an average size of 90 Å that coalesce to 200 Å, which is double that observed for hybrid poplar, 55–130 Å. Switchgrass shows a smooth-to-rough transition in the cell wall surface morphology unlike the diffuse-to-smooth transition of hybrid poplar. Yet, switchgrass and hybrid poplar pretreated under the same experimental conditions result in pretreated switchgrass producing higher glucose yields (~76 wt %) than pretreated hybrid poplar (~60 wt %). This observation shows that other aspects like cellulose allomorph transitions, cellulose accessibility, cellular biopolymer spatial distribution, and enzyme–substrate interactions may be more critical in governing the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1830153

Journal Information:: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Journal Name: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 5; ISSN 2168-0485

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
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Understanding Multiscale Structural Changes During Dilute Acid Pretreatment of Switchgrass and Poplar

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