Effect of the organizational difference of corn stalk on hemicellulose extraction and enzymatic hydrolysis

The composition units and structure of hemicellulose are more complicated and relatively more variable compared to cellulose. In addition, hemicellulose also has the possibility of being converted to high-value products. However, a variety of factors affect the extraction and transformation of hemicellulose. To study the effect of the organizational difference of corn stalk (CS) on hemicellulose extraction and biotransformation efficiency, CS was divided into three parts: leaf, bark and pith. After water and ethanol extraction, xylans were obtained by alkaline solution, which were then enzymatically hydrolyzed to produce xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS). The results showed that the highest purity of xylan extracted from pith reached 84.89%, while the lowest color value was 1.43 × 105 and the highest hemicellulose recovery ratio was 91.03%. The biotransformation results revealed that the highest enzymatic hydrolysis ratio at 40.09%, was obtained from pith, followed by leaf at 30.57% and bark with the worst ratio at 20%. By thoroughly analyzing all relevant aspects, it was determined that the corn pith was more conducive to the subsequent hemicellulose extraction and enzymatic hydrolysis to produce XOS.