Crude glycerol pretreatment for selective saccharification of lignocellulose via fast pyrolysis and enzyme hydrolysis

Abstract Saccharification is a major step in the conversion of lignocellulose, and pretreatment is a vital process to modify the component and structure of lignocellulose for efficient saccharification. Crude glycerol pretreatment was used to facilitate selective saccharification of corncobs via fast pyrolysis and enzyme hydrolysis. Based on the reduction of alkaline and alkaline earth metals and removal of lignin fraction, the crude glycerol pretreated sample exhibited a higher levoglucosan selectivity (30.5%) than those from glycerol pretreated (9.5%) and un-treated corncobs (2.4%) in fast pyrolysis. The crude glycerol pretreated corncobs also gave a higher glucose yield (83.7%) as compared to those of un-treated (19.1%) and glycerol pretreated (41.1%) samples in enzyme hydrolysis. Additionally, after crude glycerol pretreatment, the recovered glycerol could also be used as an attractive fermentable substrate for D-lactate production. In accordance, this manuscript provided an economically-viable and environmentally-benign approach to maximize the value of crude glycerol, meanwhile minimize the cost of pretreatment and improve the efficiency of saccharification for lignocellulose.