Clean conversion to fermentable glucose from wheat straw

The process of conversion of wheat straw to glucose was studied by CP/MAS 13C-NMR, X-ray and FTIR methods. It was found that the formic acid solution could effectively penetrate into the interior cellulose and made the hydrolysis taking place not only in amorphous zone but in crystalline zone. Wheat straw hydrolyzed with 4% hydrochloric acid in formic acid solution under mild conditions was also studied. The effects of temperature (60 °C-75 °C) and retention time (0-9 h) was tested and the concentration of glucose is reported. The hydrolysis rate of wheat straw were 0.0190 h-1 at 60 °C, 0.0325 h-1 at 65 °C, 0.0683 h-1 at 70 °C and 0.0931 at 75 °C. The degradation rate of glucose were 0.0285 h-1 at 60 °C, 0.0448 h-1 at 65 °C, 0.1098 h-1 at 70 °C and 0.1436 at 75 °C. The activation energy of wheat straw hydrolysis was 106.35 kJ/mol, the activation energy of glucose degradation was 111.00 kJ/mol.