Selective hydrolysis of hemicellulose from wheat straw by a nanoscale solid acid catalyst

A nanoscale catalyst, solid acid SO42−/Fe2O3 with both Lewis and Brønsted acidity was found to effectively hydrolyze hemicellulose while keeping cellulose and lignin inactive, and selective hydrolysis of hemicellulose from wheat straw by this catalyst was also confirmed. The factors that significantly affected hydrolysis process were investigated with response surface methodology, and the optimum conditions for time, temperature, and ratio of wheat straw to catalyst (w/w) were calculated to be 4.10 h, 141.97 °C, and 1.95:1, respectively. A maximum hemicellulose hydrolysis yield of 63.5% from wheat straw could be obtained under these conditions. In addition, the catalyst could be recycled six times with high activity remaining.