Industrially relevant hydrolyzability and fermentability of sugarcane bagasse improved effectively by glycerol organosolv pretreatment

Background: Previous work has demonstrated that glycerol organosolv pretreatment can effectively improve the hydrolyzability of various lignocellulosic substrates. This pretreatment process strategy is ideal to integrate a commercially successful lignocellulosic and vegetable oil biorefinery industry. However, industrially relevant high-solid-loading hydrolyzability and fermentability of the pretreated substrates have yet to be considered for enzyme-based lignocellulosic biorefineries. Results In this study, an AGO pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse was evaluated with regard to the component selectivity, structural modification, hydrolyzability, and fermentation of pretreated substrates. The results showed that the AGO pretreatment presented good component selectivity, removing approximately 70 % lignin and hemicellulose, respectively, from sugarcane bagasse with a near-intact preservation (94 %) of the overall cellulose. The pretreatment deconstructed the recalcitrant architecture of natural lignocellulosic biomass, thereby modifying the structure at the macro-/micrometer level (fiber size, surface area, average size, roughness) and supermolecular level (key chemical bond dissociation) of lignocellulosic substrates towards good hydrolyzability. Notably, extraordinarily few fermentation inhibitors (