Hemicellulose polysaccharide recovery from flax shive using alkaline solutions with sodium ethoxide pretreatment

► Hemicellulose polysaccharides were extracted from flax shive with reasonable yield using sodium hydroxide under mild conditions. ► Pretreatment of flax shives using sodium ethoxide in anhydrous ethanol had no effect on subsequent carbohydrate extraction, either mass yield or composition. ► Results demonstrated the technical feasibility of extracting multiple separate product streams sequentially from flax shive.