Evaluating the production of monosaccharides and xylooligosaccharides from the pre-hydrolysis liquor of kraft pulping process by acid and enzymatic hydrolysis

Abstract Pre-hydrolysis liquor (PHL) from the kraft-based dissolving pulp process contains large amounts of hemicelluloses and their degradation products, which makes it a promising candidate for the production of xylose or xylooligosaccharides (XOS). However, it is usually treated as wastewater of the pulp and paper industries. In this study, both acid hydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis were applied to prepare xylose and XOS from the PHL, which contained 47.80 g/L of sugars and 14.10 g/L of lignins. Results showed that an optimal xylose yield (30.10 g/L) was obtained at 120 °C for 0.5 h with 4% aqueous sulfuric acid, while the maximum XOS yield (11.63 g/L) was achieved with 0.3% aqueous sulfuric acid at 120 °C for 2.0 h. For the enzymatic hydrolysis, the highest XOS yield of 15.65 g/L was obtained under the optimal condition (60 IU/L PHL, 50 °C, 6 h), and the XOS were mainly composed of xylobiose and xylotriose.