Physicochemical pretreatment of pine needle biomass by design of experiments approach for efficient enzymatic saccharificatio

Lignocellulosic biomass (lb) has emerged as one of the most suitable environmentally-friendly and renewable resources of energy in view of fast depleting fossil fuel energy resources,and growing environmental concerns. most of the pretreatment approaches available for reducing recalcitrance of lb are cost/energy intensive,cause loss of sugars and production of inhibitors. also there is research thrust on search for novel and potential biomass resources for energy. pine needles may serve as one of such biomass resource that can be exploited. dried,fallen,pine needles cause detrimental changes in fauna and flora,and reduce soil productivity,and may pose threat for fire in coniferous forests. current study investigates the pretreatment of pine needle biomass (pnb) using design of experiments approach based on response surface methodology (rsm). effect of three variables i.e. dilutes sulphuric acid concentration,time and temperature for pretreatment of pnb was studied using rsm. the solid residual pnb was subjected to alkali pretreatment (calcium hydroxide),followed by enzymatic hydrolysis (celluclast 1.5 l). the optimum level of variables for physico-chemical pretreatment was: 0.25% sulphuric acid,65°c,and 5 min. enzymatic saccharification of pretreated biomass for 48 h (@10 units of cellulase),resulted in production of total sugars of 286 mg/g of pnb. thus,the sugars obtained after apt pretreatment and saccharification of pine needle biomass may be used for fermentative production of biofuel and/or other commercial products. © 2016.