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Enhancing Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Sugarcane Leaves through Sulfonation-Based Pretreatment with a Reusable Organic Solvent under Mild Conditions for Bioethanol Production

Apinya Kaoloun, Prapakorn Tantayotai, Lueacha Tabtimmai, Nagaraju Kottam, Atthasit Tawai

Abstract


Efficient pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is vital for enhancing bioconversion efficiency and reducing production costs sustainably. This study evaluates a sulfonation-based pretreatment strategy employing a reusable organic co-solvent system consisting of formic acid and methanesulfonic acid (MSA) for the pretreatment of sugarcane leaves. Comparative experiments were conducted with and without MSA under fixed conditions of 20% formic acid, 90 °C, and 90 min. Results indicated that the inclusion of MSA significantly enhanced sugar concentration by 1.73-fold and increased sugar yield by 70%. Optimization of pretreatment conditions was performed using response surface methodology (RSM) and a genetic algorithm (GA), with the MSA concentration maintained at 5%. Formic acid concentration, temperature, and pretreatment time were varied to determine optimal conditions. RSM identified optimal conditions at 27.5% formic acid, 81 °C, and 102 min, whereas GA optimization yielded 20% formic acid, 89 °C, and 177 minutes. The corresponding sugar concentrations were 29.4 mg/mL for RSM and 30.49 mg/mL for GA. Subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation produced ethanol concentrations of 12.6 mg/mL under RSM conditions and 12.0 mg/mL under GA conditions. Despite GA optimization utilizing 7.5% less formic acid, ethanol yields were not significantly different compared to RSM results; however, GA required a longer processing time and slightly higher temperature. These findings demonstrate the potential of sulfonation-based pretreatment for cost-effective and environmentally sustainable bioethanol production. However, the optimization was limited to mild pretreatment conditions, and the results were validated only at the laboratory scale.

Keywords



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DOI: 10.14416/j.asep.2025.06.009

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