A novel use for sugarcane bagasse hemicellulosic fraction: Xylitol enzymatic production

The excess of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) from the sugar-alcohol industry is considered a by-product with great potential for many bioproducts production. This work had as objective to verify the performance of sugarcane bagasse hemicellulosic hydrolysate (SCBHH) as source of sugars for enzymatic or in vitro xylitol production. For this purpose, xylitol enzymatic production was evaluated using different concentrations of treated SCBHH in the commercial reaction media. The weak acid hydrolysis of SCB provided a hydrolysate with 18 g L−1 and 6 g L−1 of xylose and glucose, respectively. Considering the reactions, changes at xylose–xylitol conversion efficiency and volumetric productivity in xylitol were not observed for the control experiment and using 20 and 40% v.v−1 of SCBHH in the reaction media. The conversion efficiency achieved 100% in all the experiments tested. The results showed that treated SCBHH is suitable as xylose and glucose source for the enzymatic xylitol production and that this process has potential as an alternative for traditional xylitol production ways.

► This work presents an innovative approach for sugarcane bagasse use.
► A new process for xylitol production is also explored for the first time with hydrolysate.
► Using 40% v.v−1 of reaction media containing hydrolysate did not interfere xylitol production.
► Potential and technical viability of this emergent technology could also be verified.