Energy Conversion and Management 173 (2018) 539–544

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Energy Conversion and Management

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Preparation of furfural from Eucalyptus by the MIBK/H2O pretreatment with T

biphasic system and enzymatic hydrolysis of the resulting solid fraction
⁎
Shaolong Suna, Xuefei Caob, Huiling Lic, Xue Chenb, Jianing Tangb, Shaoni Sunb,
a
College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510642, China
b
Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
c
College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510642, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Forest wood biomass can be a sustainable and cost-effective feedstock for the biorefinery industries, but the rigid
Biphasic system and compact structure of plant cell is a major barrier for production of clean energy and biochemical. In this
Furfural case, the MIBK/H2O pretreatment with biphasic system was applied to treat Eucalyptus and then systematically
MIBK/H2O evaluated pretreatment conditions (e.g., MIBK/H2O ratio, reaction temperature and time, NaCl concentration,
Enzymatic hydrolysis
and HCl dosage) on the effect of furfural yield. The resulting solid fraction obtained from the optimum pre-
Eucalyptus
treatment condition for furfural yield was to produce fermentable glucose by enzymatic hydrolysis. Study on
enzymatic hydrolysis of the raw material and resulting solid fraction obtained by single aqueous system was also
contrastively investigated. The furfural yield was 65.9% and the recovery of residue was 46.9% under an optimal
reaction condition (VMIBK:VH2O = 5:5, 150 °C, 60 min, 0.3 M HCl). Meanwhile, the yield of glucose of cellulose
was improved after the pretreatments with different systems and a maximum value was up to 60.2% by the
MIBK/H2O pretreatment. The effective fermentable glucose production was mainly affected by the significant
removal of hemicelluloses, change of CrI, and destruction of surface morphology of Eucalyptus. The MIBK/H2O
pretreatment can be considered as a potential approach for efficient conversion of Eucalyptus to clean energy and
biochemicals.

1. Introduction
Furfural is a green and renewable bio-based chemical derived from
hemicelluloses of lignocelluloses that can be further converted into
biofuels and biochemicals, which has been identified as one of the 30
high value platform compounds by US Department of Energy [1,2]. As
one of the most important paper sources, Eucalyptus has a great po-
tential as a raw material for production of clean energy and biochem-
ical, such as bioethanol, furfural, and other industrial products, owing
to its high content of carbohydrates (cellulose and hemicelluloses).
Unfortunately, Eucalyptus is recalcitrance to deconstruction of carbo-
hydrates due to the compact and rigid cell walls structure [3]. Thus,
pretreatment is generally required for improving the preparation of
furfural and fermentable glucose by enzymatic hydrolysis from Eu-
calyptus [4].
Hitherto, various physical, chemical, biological, and combined
techniques have been proposed to reduce recalcitrance and enhance
biochemicals yield and/or enzymatic hydrolysis in different lig-
nocelluloses, including the steam explosion, dilute acid, ionic liquid,
white rot fungus, biphasic system, and some integrated techniques
[5–10]. Generally, preparation of furfural from hemicelluloses of lig-
nocelluloses must pass a two-step reactions under acidic conditions:
first, depolymerization of hemicelluloses (mainly D-xylan) to mono-
saccharides; secondly, D-xylose further convert to furfural by dehy-
dration [11]. For enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose in lignocelluloses,
many factors affect its hydrolysis efficiency, such as surface mor-
phology, crystallinity and polymerization degree of cellulose as well as
content of lignin and hemicelluloses [3].
For the past few years, the furfural yield in a single aqueous system
is usually constricted due to the limitation of solubility of furfural [12].
In addition, among all the pretreatment techniques, the pretreatment
with organic/aqueous biphasic system is a potential approach for en-
hancing the furfural yield and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of lig-
nocelluloses, since its high efficiency and mild reaction conditions [13].
More importantly, furfural component produced during the biphasic
system is quick transferred from the aqueous phase to the organic
phase, which ceases interfering side reactions [14]. Therefore, organic/
aqueous biphasic system pretreatment has been developed and applied

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sunshaoni@126.com (S. Sun).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2018.08.006
Received 2 July 2018; Received in revised form 2 August 2018; Accepted 2 August 2018
Available online 07 August 2018
0196-8904/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Sun et al.
broadly in improving the furfural yield and subsequent fermentable
glucose yield by enzymatic hydrolysis. Generally, γ-valerolactone, 2-
methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF), alkylphenols, and methyl isobutyl ke-
tone (MIBK) as an organic phase in organic/aqueous biphasic system
were selected [15–18]. Among these solvents, MIBK deserves particular
attention due to its high immiscibility with water, easy recycle and
stability under acidic conditions [18]. Hence, a systematic evaluation
on preparation of furfural from lignocelluloses by the MIBK/H2O pre-
treatment with biphasic system and enzymatic hydrolysis of the re-
sulting cellulose fraction was very necessary.
Our preliminary experiment showed that the pretreatment with
single aqueous system by adding HCl as catalyst was a relatively effi-
cient way for preparation of furfural from Eucalyptus as compared to the
pretreatment by adding some metal chlorides (e.g., SnCl2, AlCl3, FeCl3,
ZnCl2, MgCl2, and SnCl4). Therefore, in the present study, the MIBK/
H2O pretreatment with HCl was applied to treat Eucalyptus and then
systematically evaluate pretreatment conditions (e.g., MIBK/H2O ratio,
reaction temperature and time, NaCl concentration, and HCl dosage) on
the effect of furfural yield. In addition, the resulting solid fraction ob-
tained from the optimum pretreatment conditions for furfural yield was
performed to produce fermentable glucose by enzymatic hydrolysis.
Meanwhile, enzymatic hydrolysis experiments of the raw material and
solid fraction obtained by single aqueous system with HCl were also
contrastively studied. Chemical constituents, Fourier transform infrared
(FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) of the three substrates obtained were measured. In short, all the
data will provide some useful guide information in the utilization of
Eucalyptus for improving the preparation of furfural and enzymatic
hydrolysis of the resulting solid fraction in the prospective biorefinery
industries.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Eucalyptus was obtained from Shaanxi province, China. They were
first dried and then ground in a micro plant grinding machine to obtain
powder (20–40 mesh). The powder was extracted with 2:1 vol ratio of
toluene-ethanol to remove extractives and then dried to serve as raw
material (RM). The RM was mainly composed of cellulose (43.3%),
hemicelluloses (15.6%), and lignin (29.0%) based on the standard
National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) method [19]. All
chemicals used were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich and Megazyme.
Liquid-state cellulases (Cellic@ CTec2, 100 FPU/ml) were purchased
from Novozymes (Beijing, China).
2.2. Preparation of furfural by the MIBK/H2O pretreatment with biphasic
system
The biphasic system pretreatments at 160 °C for 60 min with 0.4 M
HCl under different volume ratios of MIBK/H2O (3:7, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, 7:3,
and 8:2) were applied to produce furfural from Eucalyptus. To obtain
the optimum pretreatment conditions for the production of furfural,
different pretreatment reaction temperatures (130, 140, 150, 160, 170,
180, 190, and 200 °C), times (20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, and 140 min),
NaCl concentrations (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 36%), and HCl do-
sages (0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6 M) were further used to treat
Eucalyptus. Typically, the MIBK/H2O pretreatment with biphasic system
was performed in a batch reactor (20 mL capacity, 1:20 g/mL). At the
end of the reaction, the mixtures were cooled down to 25 °C and then
filtrated using a Buchner funnel. The organic phase was filtered with
syringe filter (0.22 μm) for further analysis. The resulting solid fraction
was dried at 60 °C for 16 h.
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Energy Conversion and Management 173 (2018) 539–544
2.3. Enzymatic hydrolysis
The resulting solid fraction obtained from the optimum pretreat-
ment conditions for furfural yield was performed to produce fermen-
table glucose by enzymatic hydrolysis. Meanwhile, enzymatic hydro-
lysis experiments of RM and the resulting solid fraction by single
aqueous system with HCl were also contrastively studied. The hydro-
lysis experiments were implemented at 50 °C for 72 h. In addition, 2%
of substrate (w/v) using 50 mM sodium acetate buffer (pH 4.8, 10 mL)
was applied in this study by a shaking incubator. The rotational speed
was controlled at 150 rpm and the cellulases (15 FPU/g substrate) were
used. The hydrolyzates were detected using a high-performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC) system (Agilent 1200 series, Agilent
Technologies, USA). More details of the test conditions for the hydro-
lyzates were described in a recent publication [20]. All the hydrolysis
experiments were performed in triplicate, and average values were
given.
2.4. Analysis methods
The yields of furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the
organic phase were detected by HPLC as described previously [10]. The
measurements were conducted in triplicate, and the average values
were given. The chemical constituents (%, w/w) of the resulting solid
fraction obtained by different systems were also analyzed by NREL
procedure [19]. FT-IR was measured by a FT-IR microscope (Thermo
Nicolet Corporation, Madison, WI, USA) equipped. XRD in reflection
mode was recorded using a D/MAX 2500PC diffractometer (Rigaku
Corporation, Japan) with Ni-filtered Cu Kα radiation operated at 40 kV
and 20 mA. SEM images were carried out using a JSM 6700F NT
(Tokyo, Japan) instrument at 5 kV acceleration voltages.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Furfural yields by the MIBK/H2O pretreatment with biphasic system
To obtain a higher furfural yield, the MIBK/H2O pretreatment with
biphasic system was developed to reduce recalcitrance of Eucalyptus
and cease interfering side reactions. Fig. 1 shows the effects of the
pretreatment at 160 °C for 60 min with 0.4 M HCl under different vo-
lume ratios of MIBK/H2O (3:7, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, 7:3, and 8:2) on the fur-
fural yields from Eucalyptus. As can be seen, when the volume ratios of
MIBK to H2O were 5:5 and 6:4, the furfural yields were reached to
64.2% and 65.6%, respectively, which were higher than that of the
Fig. 1. Furfural and HMF yields from Eucalyptus during the MIBK/H2O pre-
treatment at 160 °C for 60 min with 0.4 M HCl under different volume ratio of
MIBK/H2O.
S. Sun et al.
Fig. 2. Furfural and HMF yields by the MIBK/H2O pretreatment with biphasic system under different conditions: (a) reaction temperatures; (b) reaction times; (c)
NaCl concentrations; (d) HCl dosages.
MIBK/H2O volume ratios being 3:7, 4:6, 7:3, and 8:2. In addition, to
evaluate the degree of cellulose degradation during the MIBK/H2O
pretreatment with biphasic system, the HMF yields were also measured
by HPLC (Fig. 1). The results indicated that the biphasic pretreatment
under different volume ratios of MIBK/H2O contained relatively low
HMF yields (2.2–4.7%), suggesting that the MIBK/H2O pretreatment
had a better degradation effect on hemicelluloses and little effect on
cellulose. Taking into consideration the price of MIBK, the volume ratio
of VMIBK:VH2O = 5:5 was selected for preparation of furfural from Eu-
calyptus during the MIBK/H2O pretreatment.
Fig. 2 shows the furfural and HMF yields by the MIBK/H2O pre-
treatment with biphasic system under different conditions, such as re-
action temperature and time, NaCl concentration, and HCl dosage. As
expected, the furfural yields were significantly affected by the pre-
treatment conditions, while the HMF yields were almost unaffected. As
shown in Fig. 2a, after the end of the reactions at VMIBK:VH2O = 5:5 for
60 min with 0.4 M HCl, the furfural yields presented notable increase
from 36.6 to 64.2% with the pretreatment temperatures increased from
130 to 160 °C. The increasing phenomenon was attributed to the en-
hancement of depolymerization of hemicelluloses and dehydration of
D-xylose with the pretreatment temperatures increased. However, as
the pretreatment temperatures further increased to 200 °C, the yields of
furfural gradually decreased from 64.2 to 18.8%, which was mainly as a
result of the degradation of furfural during the pretreatment, especially
at higher temperatures. This was also in accordance with the previous
results based on microwave-assisted dehydration of xylose into furfural
in water-cyclopentyl methyl ether as a biphasic system [11]. In other
words, the furfural was unstable and degraded rapidly at high tem-
peratures. In combination with the data of Fig. 1, it was found that the
furfural yields were only increased by 0.6% when the temperatures
were raised from 150 to 160 °C under the other same conditions. Based
on the economic feasibility of industrial production, the higher the
temperature for preparation of furfural, the higher the production cost.
Thus, in this work, the pretreatment temperature of 150 °C was selected
as an optimal reaction temperature for preparation of furfural from
541
Energy Conversion and Management 173 (2018) 539–544
Eucalyptus. Fig. 2b exhibits the furfural yields at 150 °C for
VMIBK:VH2O = 5:5 with 0.4 M HCl under different pretreatment times
(10–150 min). It was found that the pretreatment time affected the
furfural yield, releasing furfural with the highest yield (63.6%) ob-
tained at 150 °C for 60 min.
Adding salts (e.g., NaCl) could significantly influence production of
furfural from xylose in both single aqueous system and organic solvent/
aqueous biphasic system under the acid conditions [17,21,22]. It was
reported that Cl− anion favors the formation of 1,2-enediol and reacts
to form furfural in presence of an acid [21]. In addition, the Cl− anion
may promote the isomerization of glucose via a 1,2-hydride shift path
and accelerate the dehydration of fructose, thus driving the selective
formation of HMF [23]. Thus, under the conditions above
(VMIBK:VH2O = 5:5, 150 °C, 60 min, 0.4 M HCl), different NaCl con-
centrations (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 36%) were added to the bi-
phasic system for assessing its effect on the furfural and HMF yields
(Fig. 2c). In this study, as compared to the furfural yield without adding
NaCl (63.6%), the furfural yield was slightly increased to 64.4% with
5% NaCl concentration. However, the furfural yields began to decrease
when the NaCl concentration (10–36%) was relatively high, which was
probably related to the complex structure of lignocelluloses. Therefore,
it is not necessary to add NaCl for preparation of furfural during the
biphasic system. Moreover, the effect of the HCl dosage (0.0, 0.1, 0.2,
0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6 M) on furfural production was analyzed and the
results are shown in Fig. 2d. The fact indicated that the highest furfural
yield (65.9%) was obtained with HCl dosage of 0.3 M. In short, the
optimal reaction conditions for preparation of furfural from Eucalyptus
by MIBK/H2O pretreatment with biphasic system was obtained at
150 °C for 60 min with 0.3 M HCl when the volume ratio of MIBK/H2O
was 5:5.
3.2. Solid yield and compositional analysis of the resulting solid fraction
During the MIBK/H2O pretreatment with biphasic system, hemi-
celluloses were mainly converted into furfural through
S. Sun et al.
Table 1
Solid yields and chemical compositions (%, w/w) of Eucalyptus before and after
the pretreatments with different systems.
Solid yield (%) Chemical composition (w/w, %)
Cellulose Hemicellulose Lignin
RM 100.0 43.3 15.6 29.0
R(H2O-HCl) 54.6 52.4 Tra 32.7
R(MIBK/H2O- 46.9 59.0 NDb 30.0
HCl)
a
Tr, trace, i.e. < 0.2%.
b
ND, not determined.
depolymerization and dehydration reactions. As a biorefinery process,
the resulting solid fraction (cellulose-rich) obtained from the biphasic
system can be converted into fermentable glucose by enzymatic hy-
drolysis, which contributes to the high-valued utilization for Eucalyptus.
Our preliminary experiment showed that the pretreatment with single
MIBK system had little effect on the physicochemical properties of
Eucalyptus. Therefore, in the present study, the expansion experiment
was performed by the MIBK/H2O pretreatment with biphasic system
under the optimum reaction conditions (VMIBK:VH2O = 5:5, 150 °C,
60 min, 0.3 M HCl) for the furfural production. By comparison, the
pretreatment with single aqueous system under the same reaction
conditions (150 °C, 60 min, 0.3 M HCl) was also applied to treat
Eucalyptus. At the end of the two reactions, the resulting solid fraction
obtained from the corresponding pretreatment systems were named as
R(MIBK/H2O-HCl) and R(H2O-HCl), respectively.
Table 1 shows the solid yields and chemical compositions of Eu-
calyptus before and after the pretreatments with different systems. As
compared to the solid yield of 54.6% after the pretreatment with single
aqueous system, the solid yield after the pretreatment with biphasic
system was reduced to 46.9%. This was mainly due to the thorough
degradation of hemicelluloses in Eucalyptus during the pretreatment
with biphasic system as compared to the pretreatment with aqueous
system. As shown in Table 1, trace of hemicellulosic polysaccharide was
detected in R(H2O-HCl), suggesting that the hemicelluloses was sig-
nificantly destroyed and degraded during the pretreatment with aqu-
eous system under the conditions given, resulting in relatively higher
contents of cellulose and lignin in R(H2O-HCl). Similarly, hemi-
celluloses were also completely destroyed and degraded during the
pretreatment with biphasic system. Specially, as compared to R(H2O-
HCl), R(MIBK/H2O-HCl) contained a relatively higher content of cel-
lulose (59.0%), but a lower lignin content (30.0%), indicating that the
pretreatment with biphasic system was more effective to obtain the
digestible cellulose-rich residue for the production of fermentable glu-
cose.
3.3. FT-IR and XRD of the resulting solid fraction
To compare the structural changes of Eucalyptus before and after the
pretreatments with different systems, the FT-IR spectra of RM, R(H2O-
HCl), and R(MIBK/H2O-HCl) are presented in Fig. 3. For the RM, two
obvious bands at 1716 and 1234 cm−1 were observed, which are ori-
ginated from the C]O and CeO stretching vibrations of the acetyl ester
of hemicelluloses, respectively [24]. However, the two bands dis-
appeared almost completely in the FT-IR spectra of the R(H2O-HCl) and
R(MIBK/H2O-HCl), which was due to the significantly removal of
hemicelluloses during the pretreatments, especially during the MIBK/
H2O pretreatment with biphasic system. In addition, the intensity of a
sharp band at 899 cm−1, which is attributed to the β-glucosidic linkages
in carbohydrate (hemicelluloses and cellulose), was also weakening
after the pretreatments [25]. This further indicated that the carbohy-
drates (mainly in hemicelluloses) were degraded during the pretreat-
ment process. Moreover, four intense bands at 1605, 1508, 1454, and
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Energy Conversion and Management 173 (2018) 539–544
Fig. 3. FT-IR spectra of Eucalyptus before and after the pretreatments with
different systems.
1427 cm−1 could be clearly observed in all the spectra, indicating the
pretreatments with both single aqueous system and organic/aqueous
biphasic system did not significantly remove the lignin from RM [26].
Crystallinity of cellulose (CrI) is regarded as a main factor influ-
enced on the yield of glucose of cellulose in lignocelluloses [27]. The
CrIs of Eucalyptus before and after the pretreatments with different
systems were determined by XRD patterns (Fig. 4). The crystal structure
of cellulose in Eucalyptus before and after the pretreatments did not
change, but there was a significant variation in the CrIs for RM, R(H2O-
HCl) and R(MIBK/H2O-HCl). As compared to the CrI of RM (55.1%), the
CrIs of R(H2O-HCl) and R(MIBK/H2O-HCl) increased to 65.5% and
67.9%, respectively. The increasing trend was attributed to the removal
of amorphous hemicelluloses during the pretreatments, as also revealed
by the decreasing intensities of the FT-IR bands at 1716 and
1234 cm−1.
3.4. Surface morphology of the resulting solid fraction
To observe the surface morphology changes caused by the pre-
treatments with different systems, SEM images of RM, R(H2O-HCl), and
R(MIBK/H2O-HCl) were observed at magnifications of 5000 (Fig. 5).
The surface of RM exhibited a smooth and dense morphology, resulting
in that cellulase was difficult to access cellulose [28]. By contrast, the
surfaces of R(H2O-HCl) and R(MIBK/H2O-HCl) were broken and ap-
peared small particle-sized debris and some cracks. The surface mor-
phology of R(MIBK/H2O-HCl) became looser than R(H2O-HCl). It was
interesting to note that the single aqueous system and organic/aqueous
biphasic system under the same pretreatment conditions showed dif-
ferent effects on the surface morphology of Eucalyptus. In short, the
pretreatments led to large amounts of adsorption sites of enzymes on
the fiber surface, thereby enhancing the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency
of the resulting solid fraction, which was further confirmed by the re-
sults of the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis experiment [29].
3.5. Enzymatic hydrolysis of the resulting solid fraction
During the pretreatments with different systems, hemicelluloses
were converted into furfural through depolymerization and dehydra-
tion reactions, along with obtaining cellulose-rich residues. Combining
the results of characterization of the physicochemical properties of the
cellulose-rich residues above, it is inferred that the cellulose-rich re-
sidue can be used as an ideal sugar feedstock for enzymatic hydrolysis.
To verify this hypothesis, the glucose production of R(H2O-HCl) and R
(MIBK/H2O-HCl) by enzymatic hydrolysis was investigated and
S. Sun et al. Energy Conversion and Management 173 (2018) 539–544

Fig. 4. XRD spectra of Eucalyptus before and after the pretreatments with different systems.

compared with RM. As shown in Fig. 6, the yield of glucose was just
19.3% for RM after 72 h enzymatic hydrolysis. After the pretreatment
with single aqueous system, this value reached to 45.9%. By contrast,
the yield of glucose of R(MIBK/H2O-HCl) reached a maximum of
60.2%, which was related to the removal of hemicelluloses and de-
struction of surface morphology of Eucalyptus during the MIBK/H2O
pretreatment with biphasic system. In short, the yield of glucose of
cellulose was improved after the pretreatments with different systems
and a maximum value was obtained by pretreating with MIBK/H2O. In
addition, recovery of the residual lignins after enzymatic hydrolysis
should deserve some attention in future research due to its potential
application value as biomaterials or biochemicals for industries, which
can be used for the production of lignin–phenol–formaldehyde resins,
lignin–polyurethane films, antioxidants, and phenols or liquid fuels
[30–34]. The structural properties and potential application of the re-
sidual lignins will be investigated thoroughly in another article.

3.6. The correlation between physiochemical properties and enzymatic

Fig. 6. The yield of glucose of cellulose in Eucalyptus before and after the
hydrolysis pretreatments with different systems.

To explicate the effect of the physiochemical changes of Eucalyptus

lignin in Eucalyptus was very limited during the pretreatments, the yield
after the pretreatments with different systems on the enzymatic hy-
of glucose of R(H2O-HCl) and R(MIBK/H2O-HCl) did not increase sig-
drolysis of cellulose, the correlation between physiochemical properties
nificantly than reported in some integrated pretreatments, especially
and enzymatic hydrolysis should be discussed. As can be seen from
the integrated treatments with alkali [40–42].
Table 1 and Fig. 3, the optimal yield of glucose was observed in R
Based on the CrI and the data of enzymatic hydrolysis of the sub-
(MIBK/H2O-HCl). The effective conversion was mostly affected by the
strates, it was found that a positive correlation between the CrI and
removal of hemicelluloses and the similar result was obtained in a
enzymatic hydrolysis. However, the CrI was lowered during some
previous publication [35]. In addition, lignin in lignocelluloses also
specific conditions, such as phosphoric acid and ionic liquid pretreat-
impedes enzymes accessibility to cellulose during conversion process,
ments, which resulted in the substrates obtained were more readily
leading to a relatively low yield of glucose of cellulose in unpretreated
hydrolysis by cellulase [43,44]. Moreover, the destruction of morpho-
material [36,37]. Therefore, an effective process is often required to
logic structure by the pretreatments with different systems exhibited
remove or delocalize lignin, which can improve the conversion of
large amounts of adsorption sites of enzymes, leading to enhancing the
biomass to glucose [38,39]. However, in this study, since the removal of

Fig. 5. SEM images of Eucalyptus before and after the pretreatments with different systems.

543
S. Sun et al.
enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency. In short, yield of glucose of the sub-
strate was influenced by many factors, such as removal of hemi-
celluloses, change of CrI, and destruction of surface morphology.
4. Conclusions
The MIBK/H2O pretreatment with biphasic system was a promising
manner to convert lignocellulose into furfural and fermentable glucose
by enzymatic hydrolysis. The results demonstrated that the MIBK/H2O
pretreatment with biphasic system had a significant effect on the yields
of furfural and fermentable glucose. The furfural yield was 65.9% and
the recovery rate of solid residue was 46.9% under the optimal reaction
conditions (VMIBK:VH2O = 5:5, 150 °C, 60 min, 0.3 M HCl). The yield of
glucose of cellulose was improved after the pretreatments with different
systems and a maximum value was up to 60.2% by the MIBK/H2O
pretreatment. Overall, the MIBK/H2O pretreatment can effectively
convert Eucalyptus into furfural and fermentable glucose by enzymatic
hydrolysis of the resulting solid fraction (cellulose-rich), which is mild
to environment and requires low energy, thus is an ideal approach to
the for production of clean energy and biochemical.
Acknowledgements
The authors are extremely grateful to financial support from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (21706015, 31700518),
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31700506), and
Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No.
2017A030310550).
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