Deacetylation and Disc Refining Process (DDR) Efficiently Converts Biomass to Soluble Sugars

Low-cost degradation of biomass feedstocks into soluble sugars is a vital step in the production of fuels and chemicals. A proposed new process for the conversion of biomass, called DDR, features a low-temperature, dilute alkaline deacetylation step followed by disc refining. The new process, said to have the potential to yield high amounts of low-cost sugars at high concentrations without a conventional chemical pretreatment step, was evaluated.

Researchers led by Xiaowen Chen from the National Bioenergy Center tested DDR using corn stover. The corn stover was rapidly deconstructed to soluble sugars with enzymatic hydrolysis. High process sugar conversions were achieved, with high concentrations of soluble sugars that exceeded 150 g/L. The sugar syrups produced were also found to have low concentrations of known major fermentation inhibitors. The low levels of these inhibitors led to high fermentation yields.

The results suggest that this process is a very promising development for the cellulosic biofuels industry.