Evaluation of ozonolysis pre-treatment for xylose production through enzymatic hydrolysis

Corncob is solid waste generated from the corn processing industry. Corncobs are composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Hemicellulose in corncobs is the second largest component after cellulose. The high content of hemicellulose, especially xylan in corn led to their potential use as raw material for xylose. Xylose can be used as substrate for xylitol production. Corncob xylose can be obtained through the chemical or enzymatical hydrolysis of xylan. Enzymatic hydrolysis of xylan produces more specific product without by-products such as furfural. Before starting the enzymatic hydrolysis, pre-treatment is necessary to degrade lignin in the cell wall so that the the access of enzyme to the materials are increased. This research aims to determine the most appropriate type of pre-treatment to maximize xylose production resulting from the enzymatic hydrolysis process using xylanase. The descriptive method use in this research and followed by t-Test with the level confidence of 95%. The experimental variations are heat treatment in autoclave, ozonolysis, soaking in a ammonia solution, ozonolysis followed by heating, and soaking the material in ammonia followed by heattreatment. The results showed that pre-treatment is effective to increasethe accesibility of enzyme. Heat treatment as well as soaking in ammonia followed by heat treatment were the most efficient proccesses to produce xylose with the condition of enzymatic hydrolysis of 52 h, at 50°C.