Production of xylose from sorghum straw using hydrochloric acid

Xylose is a hemicellulosic sugar mainly used for its bioconversion to xylitol. Sorghum straw is a raw material for xylose production that has been studied scarcely. The objective of this work was to study the xylose production by hydrolysis of sorghum straw with hydrochloric acid at 122degreesC. Several concentrations of HCl (2-6%) and reaction time (0-300 min) were evaluated. Kinetic parameters of mathematical models for predicting the concentration of xylose, glucose, acetic acid and furfural in the hydrolysates were found. Optimal conditions for hydrolysis were 6% HCl at 122degreesC for 70 min, which yielded a solution with 16.2 g xylose/L, 3.8 g glucose/L, 2.0 g furfural/L and 1.9 g acetic acid/L. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.