Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Aqueous ammonia pretreatment of sugar beet pulp for enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aqueous ammonia pretreatment under various temperatures was applied to enhance enzymatic hydrolysis of sugar beet pulp (SBP), and the mechanism of pretreatment was evaluated in terms of the enzymatic hydrolysis, chemical composition, pore size distribution, crystallinity index, and microstructure. The results showed that aqueous ammonia played a vital role in degrading of neutral detergent soluble fraction as well as softening and partly exposing of cellulose under moderate temperatures. Apertures of various sizes in the SBP tissues were formed, specific surface area was increased, and the fiber became rougher after pretreatment. The highest reducing sugar yield reached 448.52 mg/g when the SBP was pretreated by aqueous ammonia at 80 °C for 6 h, which was 2.42 times higher than that of the raw SBP. The aqueous ammonia pretreatment improved the enzymatic digestibility of SBP, which was a promising method that might be explored in ethanol production from SBP.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gubicza K, Nieves IU, Sagues WJ, Barta Z, Shanmugam KT, Ingram LO (2016) Techno-economic analysis of ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse using a liquefaction plus simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation process. Bioresour Technol 208:42–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Jin MJ, Sousa LC, Schwartz C, He YX, Sarks C, Christa GW, Balan V, Dale BE (2016) Toward lower cost cellulosic biofuel production using ammonia based pretreatment technologies. Green Chem 18:957–966

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Tiwari S, Jadhav SK, Tiwari KL (2013) Comparative study of bioethanol production from different carbohydrate sources. Research 5(12):219–221

    Google Scholar 

  4. Li D, Yuan L, Li M, Li GH (2016) Progress on cellulosic ethanol produced from beet pulp. Chin Biotech 32(7):1–9

    Google Scholar 

  5. Eliana C, Jorge R, Juan P, Luis R (2014) Effects of the pretreatment method on enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol fermentability of the cellulosic fraction from elephant grass. Fuel 118:41–47

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Zheng Y, Lee C, Yu C, Cheng YS, Zhang R, Jenkins BM, Vander GJS (2013) Dilute acid pretreatment and fermentation of sugar beet pulp to ethanol. Appl Energy 105:1–7

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kim TH, Lee YY (2007) Pretreatment of corn stover by soaking in aqueous ammonia at moderate temperatures. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 137(2):81–92

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kim JS, Lee YY, Kim TH (2016) A review on alkaline pretreatment technology for bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass. Bioresour Technol 199:42–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Ghose TK (1987) Measurement of cellulase activities. Pure Appl Chem 59:257–268

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. König J, Grasser R, Pikor H, Vogel K (2002) Determination of xylanase, β-glucanase, and cellulase activity. Anal Bioanal Chem 374(2):80–87

    Google Scholar 

  11. Li GH, Chen HZ (2014) Synergistic mechanism of steam explosion combined with fungal treatment by Phellinus baumii for the pretreatment of corn stalk. Biomass Bioenerg 67:1–7

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Van Soest P, Wine R (1967) Use of detergents in the analysis of fibrous feeds. IV. Determination of plant cell-wall constituents. Aoac Int 50:50–55

    Google Scholar 

  13. Miller GL (1959) Use of dinitrosalicylic acid reagent for determination of reducing sugar. Anal Chem 31(3):426–428

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Zhao ZM, Wang L, Chen HZ (2015) A novel steam explosion sterilization improving solid-state fermentation performance. Bioresour Technol 192:547–555

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Xiong R, Zhang X, Tian D, Zhou Z, Lu C (2012) Comparing microcrystalline with spherical nanocrystalline cellulose from waste cotton fabrics. Cellulose 19(4):1189–1198

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Spagnuolo M, Crecchio C, Pizzigallo MDR, Ruggiero P (1999) Fractionation of sugar beet pulp into pectin, cellulose, and arabinose by arabinases combined with ultrafiltration. Biotechnol Bioeng 64(6):685–691

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Ko JK, Bak JS, Jung MW, Lee HJ, Choi IG, Kim TH, Kim KH (2013) Ethanol production from rice straw using optimized aqueous-ammonia soaking pretreatment and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation processes. Bioresour Technol 199:42–48

    Google Scholar 

  18. Mood SH, Golfeshan AH, Tabatabaei M, Jouzani GS, Najafi GH, Gholami M, Ardjmand M (2013) Lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol, a comprehensive review with a focus on pretreatment. Renew Sust Energ Rev 27:77–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Wang P, Bolker H, Purves C (1967) Uronic acid ester groups in some softwoods and hardwoods. Tappi 50:123–124

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Xu J, Cheng JJ, Sharma-Shivappa RR, Burns JC (2010) Sodium hydroxide pretreatment of switch grass for ethanol production. Energ Fuels 24(3):2113–2119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Yang B, Wyman CE (2004) Effect of xylan and lignin removal by batch and flow through pretreatment on the enzymatic digestibility of corn stover cellulose. Biotechnol Bioeng 86(1):88–98

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Pakarinen A, Zhang J, Brock T, Maijala P, Viikari L (2012) Enzymatic accessibility of fiber hemp is enhanced by enzymatic or chemical removal of pectin. Bioresour Technol 107:275–281

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Xin D, Jia L, Zhao C, Zhang J (2014) Behavior of cellulose and xylan in aqueous ammonia pretreatment. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 174(7):2626–2638

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Karnik D, Jung J, Hawking S, Wicker L (2016) Sugar beet pectin fractionated using isopropanol differs in galacturonic acid, protein, ferulic acid and surface hydrophobicity. Food Hydrocoll 60:179–185

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Karimi K, Taherzadeh MJ (2016) A critical review of analytical methods in pretreatment of lignocelluloses: composition, imaging, and crystallinity. Bioresour Technol 200:1008–1018

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Kim SB, Lee SJ, Lee JH, Jung YR, Thapa LP, Kim JS, Kim JS (2013) Pretreatment of rice straw with combined process using dilute sulfuric acid and aqueous ammonia. Biotechno Biofuel 6(109):1–11

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Kumar R, Mago G, Balan V, Wyman CE (2009) Physical and chemical characterizations of corn stover and poplar solids resulting from leading pretreatment technologies. Bioresour Technol 100:3948–3962

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Foster BL, Dale BE, Doran-Peterson JB (2001) Enzymatic hydrolysis of ammonia-treated sugar beet pulp. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 91(1):269–282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Liu Z, Padmanabhan S, Cheng K, Schwyter P, Pauly M, Bell AT, Prausnitz JM (2013) Aqueous-ammonia delignification of miscanthus followed by enzymatic hydrolysis to sugars. Bioresour Technol 135:23–29

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Oladi S, Aita GM (2017) Optimization of liquid ammonia pretreatment variables for maximum enzymatic hydrolysis yield of energy cane bagasse. Ind Cro Prod 103:122–132

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research received financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31560524) and Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia (2015BS0201).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021, Inner Mongolia, China

    Guanhua Li, Wei He & Lin Yuan

Authors
  1. Guanhua Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wei He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lin Yuan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lin Yuan.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, G., He, W. & Yuan, L. Aqueous ammonia pretreatment of sugar beet pulp for enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 40, 1603–1609 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-017-1816-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-017-1816-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation