Sugar from cellulose

Bergius (2) Also known as Beigius-Willstater-Zechmeister. A process for extracting sugar from wood by hydrolyzing the cellulose with concentrated hydrochloric acid. Lignin remains undissolved. Developed in the 1920s. 

Advances in knowledge of the chemistry of fermentation processes will aid the exploitation of biomass energy, e.g. a more concentrated fermentation process for the production of sugar from cellulose is required if alcohol from Canada s very extensive forests is to compete with other sources of liquid fuel. 

Tsao, G. T. Fermentable Sugars from Cellulosic Wastes as a Natural... 

Many favor dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment because both high hemicellulose recovery and good cellulose digestibility can be achieved (6-8). Moreover, most of the soluble sugars from dilute-acid pretreatment are released as monomers that can be readily fermented to ethanol by recombinant organisms (9,10). Pretreatment with just hot water or steam, termed uncatalyzed hydrolysis or autohydrolysis, eliminates chemical additives, lowers the cost of materials of construction, and generates less waste, but hemicellulose and cellulose yields from batch systems are limited. 

A 72-h hydrolysis profile of a 10% acetic acid-pretreated softwood substrate (Fig. 1) represents a typical enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis course with the majority of the cellulose (up to 70%) broken down within the first 24 h. However, the conversion of the remaining cellulose ( 30%) was incomplete, even after another 2 d of incubation. The decrease in the hydrolysis rate in the latter phase is likely owing to accumulation of end products. To demonstrate that the end products played a major inhibitory role, we removed the produced sugar from the hydrolysate through ultrafiltration. Fresh buffer was then added to the retained protein and the residual substrate to attain the initial volume, and the hydrolysis was continued under the same condition. As shown in Fig. 1, significant increases in the hydrolysis rate were observed after the sugar removal at both 24 h and 48 h of incubation, with complete hydrolysis attained after 48 h and 60 h of incubation respectively. 

Enzymatic Hydrolysis. Saccharification of wood polysaccharides to sugars can be accomplished by enzymatic techniques instead of acid hydrolysis. The U.S. Army Natick Laboratories developed a method for conversion of cellulose to glucose with a cellulose enzyme from an active strain of the fungus Trichoderma viride. However, extensive pretreatment of wood is necessary before sufficient enzymatic hydrolysis will take place. 

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