Acid (diluted or concentrated) or alkaline

Physical pretreatment eg: particle size

Condition during pretreatment
Suitable biomass
Effect on cellulose,hemi,lignin
Neutralization
Inhibitors formed and how to remove
Advantages and disadvantages
How to recover
references

Alkaline pretreatment:
Chemical solution:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

sodium hydroxide
calcium hydroxide
potassium hydroxide
aqueous ammonia
ammonia hydroxide
sodium hydroxide in combination with hydrogen peroxide

suitable biomass
sodium hydroxide: switch grass, rice straw, sugar cane baggase
potassium hydroxide: switch grass
lime: switch grass,cornstover
ammonia: corn stover

Mechanistically, alkali is believed to cleave hydrolysable linkages in lignin and

glycosidic bonds of polysaccharides, which causes a reduction in the degree of
polymerization and crystallinity, swelling of the fibers, as well as disruption of the
lignin structure [11]

In general, alkaline pretreatment is more effective on hardwood, herbaceous crops,

and agricultural residues, which have a lower lignin content, than on substrates
such as softwood, which contain high amounts of lignin.
The corn stover residue was then milled to a 6 mm particle size using a Thomas
Wiley mill
temperature range of 20-200C
Each beaker was loaded with approximately 500 grams of material including corn
stover, 50% (w/w) sodium hydroxide solution, and deionized water. Beaker contents
were mixed thoroughly to achieve a total solid loading of 11% and the desired alkali
loading
Eight stainless steel balls (Dia 10 mm) were added to the beakers to promote more
adequate mixing during rotary movement of the beakers
For the alkaline hydrolysis of the samples three alkaline solution NaOH, Ca(OH)2 of
equal concentration were taken and each lignocellulosic biomasses were treated as
in the following manner Ground biomass 3g of each crop was placed in a 1000ml
Erlenmeyer flask and 300 ml of 3% (w/v) NaOH solution was added to it

Advantages
Alkaline pretreatment using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) shows great advantages in
breaking down the internal structure of lignocelluloses component. Moreover, alkali
can degrade the ester and glycosidic chains and alter the structure of lignin,
causing cellulose swelling and partial decrystallization of cellulose [4, 5]. In many
years, sodium hydroxide also has been widely studied, and it has been proven
capable to break the lignin structure of the biomass, thus increasing the enzymes
accessibility to degrade cellulose and hemicelluloses [6, 7]
Spent chemicals from alkaline processes can be separated from biomass by washing
and regenerated through well-established lime kiln technology.
Advantages
Utilize lower temperature and pressure compared to other pretreatment method
Can be carried out at ambient condition but take more time
Less sugar degradation
efficient removal of lignin from the biomass
Disadvantages
Less effective as lignin content increases
Conversion of alkali to irrecoverable salts during pretreatment

https://books.google.com.my/books?
id=x9CzCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=advantages+of+alkaline+pretreatme
nt&source=bl&ots=zXwRshJ_lp&sig=G5m9TGYVQHdJoeTYj3xIgJTJkE&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=advantages%20of%20alkaline
%20pretreatment&f=false
page36

Acid concentrated
Physical pretreatment e.g: particle size
Condition during pretreatment
Suitable biomass
Effect on cellulose,hemi,lignin
Neutralization
Inhibitors formed and how to remove
Advantages and disadvantages
How to recover
References

Condition
Low temperature, low pressure, high acid conc,
>30% (w/v) at ambient to moderate temperature for several hours 50C

Advantages
No need of enzyme
Low temperature
Low pressure

Disadvantage
Catalyst toxicity
Catalyst corrosiveness
Usage of large amount of neutralizing agents and generation of gypsum

Swot analysis
Strength
High glucose recovery
High solubility of hemi
High enzymatic digestibility after pretreatment
Technology maturity for commercialization

Weakness
Salt formation after neutralization
Catalyst recovery needed
Suitable reactors with acid resistance
High inhibitor formation

Opportunity
Elimination of washing and detox steps at whole slurry usage after dilute acid
pretreatment
Low inhibitor formation at weak organic acid pretreatment

Threat
Reactor corrosion by acid
Increased acid catalyst price
Environmental and health problem

Inhibitors
Inhibitors: furfural, 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde, benzaldehyde, vanillin
Detox method
Physical

-evaporation( toxicity of non volatile fraction)

-extraction ( low efficiency, High cost)
-separation( best performance, high cost)

Biological
-micobes( prolonged time for microbial growth)
- enzyme (limited removal of phenolics)

Chemical
-precipitation (insoluble gypsum, considerable sugar loss
-adsorption (largely dependent on process condition)