Ultrasound assisted ammonia pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse for fermentable sugar production

•Taguchi design was used to identify the factors that influence the pretreatment.•UAAP showed better delignification and cellulose recovery.•Dilute acid hydrolysis showed maximum conversion of glucose and xylose.

This study presents the ultrasound assisted ammonia pretreatment (UAAP) of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) and the influence of SCB particle size, liquid ammonia concentration, sonication time, temperature and liquid to solid ratio (LSR) on cellulose recovery and delignification. The maximum cellulose recovery and delignification observed at the optimum conditions (particle size 0.274 mm, sonication time 45 min, ammonia concentration 10%, LSR 10 mL/g and temperature 80 °C) were 95.78 and 58.14%, respectively. The dilute acid hydrolysis of pretreated SCB produced 16.58 g/L glucose, 8.21 g/L xylose, 2.78 g/L arabinose, 0.81 g/L furfural and 1.79 g/L acetic acid. The hydrolysate contained less inhibitors compared to the values reported in the literature during fermentable sugar production.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide