(195b) Enhanced Sugar Yield from Cellulose By Ammonium Salt Based Pretreatment

The crystalline avicel cellulose was transformed into amorphous cellulose using aqueous ammonia and ammonium thiocyanate salt pretreatment. The pretreatment process was carried out with varying different parameters such as weight ratios of aqueous ammonia to avicel cellulose, pretreatment duration and temperature. The amorphosity and crystallinity of the pretreated samples were then analyzed using XRD method (2θ in the range of 5º-80º). The XRD images showed that the highest decrystallization of cellulose was achieved at ammonium thiocyante, ammonia, avicel cellulose and water ratio of 1:4:1:1. Enzymatic hydrolysis was carried out using CTec-2 enzyme with varying hydrolysis time and enzyme loading. The yield of reduced sugar was analyzed using UV-Vis spectrophotometry. It was found that higher sugar yield was achieved using combined pretreated samples than untreated samples or ammonia pretreated samples alone. The highest sugar yield was found to be 35 mg/mL at 24 h hydrolysis time with enzyme loading at 5 mg protein/g glucan for the combined pretreated sample.