Impact of lignin content on alkaline-sulfite pretreatment of Hybrid Pennisetum

Abstract This work focuses to investigate the impact of lignin content on chemical compositions, crystallinity, surface characterizations, cellulase adsorption profiles and hydrolysability of Hybrid Pennisetum (HP) after alkaline sulfite pretreatment (ASP). For the HP with lower lignin content, the increase of the cellulose content by ASP was more obvious than raw HP. ASP decreased total lignin content and surface lignin content of HP substrates. HP with lower lignin content (e.g., ∼15%) is suitable for ASP, because a pretty perfect glucose yield (91%) was obtained using a low dosage of enzyme loadings (5 FPU of cellulases/g dry matter). The study provides a potential strategy to efficiently produce platform sugars from HP with reduced lignin content, indicating the importance of reduction HP lignin content properly by breeding or transgenesis programs. The work could also help elucidate the mechanism of alkaline sulfite pretreatment for efficient production of fermentable sugars from lignocelluloses.