Effects of thermo-chemical pretreatment plus microbial fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis on saccharification and lignocellulose degradation of corn straw

In order to increase corn straw degradation, the straw was kept in the combined solution of 15% (w/w) lime supernatant and 2% (w/w) sodium hydroxide with liquid-to-solid ratio of 13:1 (mL/g) at 83.92 °C for 6 h; and then added with 3% (v/v) H2O2 for reaction at 50 °C for 2 h; finally cellulase (32.3 FPU/g dry matter) and xylanase (550 U/g dry matter) was added to keep at 50 °C for 48 h. The maximal reducing sugars yield (348.77 mg/g) was increased by 126.42% (P < 0.05), and the degradation rates of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin in pretreated corn straw with enzymatic hydrolysis were increased by 40.08%, 45.71% and 52.01%, compared with the native corn straw with enzymatic hydrolysis (P < 0.05). The following study indicated that the combined microbial fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis could further increase straw degradation and reducing sugar yield (442.85 mg/g, P < 0.05).