Impact of Corn Stover Composition on Hemicellulose Conversion during Dilute Acid Pretreatment and Enzymatic Cellulose Digestibility of the Pretreated Solids

This study assessed the impact of corn stover compositional variability on xylose conversion yields during dilute acid pretreatment and on enzymatic cellulose digestibility of the resulting pretreated solids. Seven compositionally-different stovers obtained from various locations throughout the United States were pretreated at three different conditions in triplicate in a pilot-scale continuous reactor. At the same pretreatment severity, a 2-fold increase in monomeric xylose yield and a 1.5-fold increase in enzymatic cellulose digestibility from their lowest values were found. Similar results were observed at the other pretreatment conditions. It was found that xylose conversion yields decreased with increasing acid neutralization capacity or soil content of the corn stover. Xylose yields also increased with increasing xylan content. No other significant correlations between corn stover's component concentrations and conversion yields were found.