Production of xylooligosaccharides by controlled acid hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials

Different agricultural wastes, namely tobacco stalk (TS), cotton stalk (CS), sunflower stalk (SS), and wheat straw (WS), were used for the production of xylooligosaccharide (XO). XO production was performed by acid hydrolysis of xylan, which was obtained by alkali extraction from these agricultural wastes. The major component of these agricultural wastes was determined as cellulose (30-42%), followed by xylan (20%) and lignin (20-27%). Xylans from these wastes had mainly xylose (85-96%) with small amount of glucose, while wheat straw xylan contained also arabinose. The best xylan conversion into XOs was achieved with 0.25 M H2SO4 with 30-min reaction time. Under these conditions, the XO yield was between 8% and 13%. The yield of XOs depends on both acid concentration and hydrolysis time, but the yield of monosaccharide depends on the structure and composition of xylan besides acid concentration and the time. The more branched xylan, WSX, gave the highest monosaccharide (similar to 16%) and furfural (similar to 49 mg/100 g xylan) yield. This research showed that all xylans from selected agricultural wastes generated XOs with similar profiles, and these oligosaccharides could be used as functional food ingredients or soluble substrates for xylanases. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.