Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
686228 Bioresource Technology 2008 13 Pages PDF
Abstract

Ethanol production from corn starch in the corn dry milling process leaves Distillers’ Dry Grains and Solubles (DDGS) as a major by-product from which additional ethanol may be economically obtained from its glucan content. A challenge in processing the cellulose content of this material lies in its extensive inter-cellulose chain hydrogen bonding, which inhibits access of enzymes capable of cleaving glycosidic bonds, a transformation required for providing fermentable sugars. The phosphitylation of cellulosic OH groups using a reactive bicyclic phosphite ester is utilized to disrupt cellulosic hydrogen bonds, thus providing access to cellulose chains for further processing. We describe a method of pretreating DDGS with commercially available trimethylolpropane phosphite [P(OCH2)3CEt] in the presence of a slight molar excess of water to afford greater than 90% DDGS solubility in the reaction mixture in methanol and in water. Preliminary results using a model compound [d-(+)-permethylated cellobiose] indicate that glycosidic bonds are cleaved as a consequence of this pretreatment.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemical Engineering Process Chemistry and Technology
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