Ammonia → (2R,3S,4R,5R)-2,3,4,5,6-pentahydroxyhexanal

Participants

Reaction Steps

The moisture content of samples of 1 mm knife-milled switchgrass was adjusted to 8% (92% DM), 18% (82% DM), or 28% (72% DM) moisture content and subjected to 10% anhydrous ammonia treatment for 1 h at 150-160° C. The samples had dry matter contents of approximately 98%, 97% and 96%, respectively, after flashing off of the ammonia at the end of the anhydrous ammonia treatment. The samples were attritor milled for the equivalent of 5 min in the Union Process attritor mill of Example 4. The samples were then saccharified for 120 hr at 47° C. at a solids loading of 25% at enzyme loadings of 7, 14 and 28 mg glucanase+xylanase/g glucan+xylan. Yields of total soluble glucose and sylose (includes monomers and olibomers) are shown in FIG. 13. The 7 and 14 mg enzyme loadings showed an absolute increase in solubilized xylose yield of 12% and 11%, respectively, for samples ammonia treated at 18% moisture as opposed to 8% moisture content. The absolute increases in solubilized glucose yields were 5.5% and 8% for the same samples. The 18% and 28% moisture content samples produced similar saccharification yields for glucose and xylose. There was therefore a distinct advantage to having a moisture content of at least 18% going into the anhydrous ammonia treatment.

Provenance & Evidence