Catalytic Hydrolysis of Cotton Stalk Biomass Using a Reusable Solid Carbon Acid Catalyst

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate a glycerol-based carbon acid catalyst for the hydrolysis of acid and alkali pre-treated and cotton stalk when it released 23 and 67mg/g of total reducing sugars respectively on reaction at 160 °C for 6h with a biomass to catalyst ratio of 1:0.5. Increase in biomass to catalyst ratio resulted in a doubling of sugar yield Optimization of the conditions for hydrolysis using a response surface method resulted in further increase of sugar yield from the alkali treated cotton stalk to 179mg/ g, which corresponded to 21.01% conversion of sugar polymers. The catalyst could be reused albeit with some loss of efficiency. Catalytic hydrolysate of cotton stalk was fermented to alcohol with 41 % efficiency. Results demonstrated the potential use of the catalyst in biomass hydrolysis to generate fermentable sugars for bioethanol production.