A Comparison of NaOH, Fenton, and Their Combined Pretreatments for Improving Saccharification of Corn Stalks

In this study, the effectiveness of NaOH extraction (AE), Fenton oxidation (FO), and synergistic pretreatment using AE and FO for enzymatic saccharification of corn stalks (CS) was compared by statistical analyses. The results showed that AE-FO treatment resulted in statistically higher enzymolysis efficiency and glucose yield than single AE and single FO treatments. Compared with single AE and FO treatments, AE-FO resulted in statistically significant higher lignin removal and xylan removal, consequently improving the cellulose accessibility to cellulase. Among various synergistic pretreatment parameters, utilizing Plackett–Burman design determined the most effective factor improving cellulose accessibility to cellulase was NaOH loading. The results that we obtained could be extended to help further improve the synergistic pretreatment process by using CS for the production of biofuels and sugar-based chemicals.