Pretreatment based on two-step steam explosion combined with an intermediate separation of fiber cells--optimization of fermentation of corn straw hydrolysates.

Pretreatment is necessary for lignocellulose to achieve a highly efficient enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. However, coincident with pretreatment, compounds inhibiting microorganism growth are formed. Some tissues or cells, such as thin-walled cells that easily hydrolyze, will be excessively degraded because of the structural heterogeneity of lignocellulose, and some inhibitors will be generated under the same pretreatment conditions. Results showed, compared with one-step steam explosion (1.2 MPa/8 min), two-step steam explosion with an intermediate separation of fiber cells (ISFC) (1.1 Mpa/4 min-ISFC-1.2 MPa/4 min) can increase enzymatic hydrolyzation by 12.82%, reduce inhibitor conversion by 33%, and increase fermentation product (2,3-butanediol) conversion by 209%. Thus, the two-step steam explosion with ISFC process is proposed to optimize the hydrolysis process of lignocellulose by modifying the raw material from the origin. This novel process reduces the inhibitor content, promotes the biotransformation of lignocellulose, and simplifies the process of excluding the detoxification unit operation.