• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.101-117
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• 2024

The conversion characteristics of the major components of Liriodendron tulipifera were investigated during acid-catalyzed organosolv pretreatment. Glucan in L. tulipifera was slowly hydrolyzed, whereas xylan was rapidly hydrolyzed. Simultaneous hydrolysis and degradation of xylan and lignin occurred; however, after complete hydrolysis of xylan at higher temperatures, lignin remained and was not completely degraded or solubilized. These conversion characteristics influence the structural properties of glucan in L. tulipifera. Critical hydrolysis of the crystalline regions in glucan occurred along with rapid hydrolysis of the amorphous regions in xylan and lignin. Breakdown of internal lignin and xylan bonds, along with solubilization of lignin, causes destruction of the lignin-carbohydrate complex. Over a temperature of 160℃, the lignin that remained was coalesced, migrated, and re-deposited on the surface of pretreated solid residue, resulting in a drastic increase in the number and content of lignin droplets. From the results, the characteristic conversions of each constituent and the changes in the structural properties in L. tulipifera effectively improved enzymatic hydrolysis in the range of 140℃-150℃. Therefore, it can be concluded that significant changes in the biomass recalcitrance of L. tulipifera occurred during organosolv pretreatment.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.109-110
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• 2009

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2010

The high costs for ethanol production with lignocellulosic biomass as a second generation energy materials currently deter commercialization of lignocellulosic biomass, especially wood biomass which is considered as the most recalcitrant material for enzymatic hydrolysis mainly due to the high lignified structure and the nature of the lignin component. Therefore, overcoming recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass for converting carbohydrates into sugar that can subsequently be converted into biobased fuels and biobased products is the primary technical and economic challenge for bioconversion process. This study was mainly reviewed on the research trend of the enhancement of enzymatic hydrolysis for lignocellulosic biomass after pretreatment in bioethanol production process.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.274-286
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• 2009

Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant raw material for bioconversion in many country. However the high costs for pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis currently deter commercialization of lignocellulosic biomass, especially wood biomass which is considered as the most recalcitrant material for enzymatic hydrolysis mainly due to the high lignified structure and the nature of the lignin component. Therefore, overcoming recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass for converting carbohydrates into intermediates that can subsequently be converted into biobased fuels and biobased products is the primary technical and economic challenge for bioconversion process. This study was mainly reviewed on the research trend of pretreatment with lignocellulosic biomass in bioethanol production process.

• Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.2403-2412
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• 2018

The present study was aimed at evaluating the effect of variable sodium carbonate ($Na_2CO_3$) loading during wet air oxidation (WAO) pretreatment of rice straw in reducing biomass recalcitrance. The research study was intended to increase the cellulose recovery, hemicellulose solubilization, lignin removal in the solid fraction and limiting the generation of inhibitors in the liquid fraction while reducing the chemical input. The operating condition of $169^{\circ}C$, 4 bar, 18 min and 6.5 g/L $Na_2CO_3$ loading resulted in maximum cellulose recovery of 82.07% and hemicellulose solubilization and lignin removal of 85.43% and 65.42%, respectively, with a total phenolic content of 0.36 g/L in the liquid fraction. The crystallinity index increased from 47.69 to 51.25 along with enzymatic digestibility with an increase in $Na_2CO_3$ loading from 0 to 6.5 g/L as a result of removal of barriers for saccharification via effective cleavage of ether and ester bonds cross-linking the carbohydrates and lignin as indicated by FT-IR spectroscopy. A further increase in the $Na_2CO_3$ loading to 9.5 g/L did not significantly increase the sugar release. Thus, it was concluded that 6.5 g/L $Na_2CO_3$ during WAO is sufficient to increase the delignification and deacetylation, leading to significant changes in apparent cellulose crystallinity inter alia improvement in cellulose accessibility and digestibility of rice straw.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.12-12
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• 2023

Plant biomass, or lignocellulose, is one of the most abundant natural resources on earth. Lignocellulosic biomass, such as agricultural and forestry residue, serves as a renewable feedstock for microbial cell factories due to its low price and abundant availability. However, the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass requires a pretreatment process prior to microbial fermentation, from which fermentable sugars including xylose and glucose are generated along with various inhibitory compounds. The presence of furan derivatives, such as 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde and 2-furaldehyde (furfural), hampers the microbial conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into value-added commodities. In this study, furfural tolerance was improved by investigating the detoxification mechanism in non-model yeast. The genes encoding aldehyde dehydrogenases were overexpressed to enhance furfural tolerance and resulted in improving cell growth and lipid production that can be converted into biofuel. Taken together, this approach contributes to the understanding of the reducing toxicity mechanism of furfural by the aldehyde dehydrogenases and provides a promising strategy that the use of microorganism as an industrial workhorse to treat efficiently lignocellulosic biomass as sustainable plant derivatives.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.442-450
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• 2019

Despite its potential as a renewable source for fuels and chemicals, lignin valorization still faces technical challenges in many aspects. Overcoming such challenges associated with the chemical recalcitrance of lignin can provide many opportunities to innovate existing and emerging biorefineries. In this work, we leveraged a biomass genetic engineering technology to produce phenolic aldehyde-rich lignin structure via downregulation of cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD). The structurally altered lignin obtained from the Arabidopsis thaliana CAD mutant was pyrolyzed to understand the effect of structural alteration on thermal behavior of lignin. The pyrolysis was conducted at 400 and $500^{\circ}C$ using an analytical pyrolyzer connected with GC/MS and the products were systematically analyzed. The results indicate that aldehyde-rich lignin undergoes fragmentation reaction during pyrolysis forming a considerable amount of C6 units. Also, it was speculated that highly reactive phenolic aldehydes facilitate secondary repolymerization reaction as described by the lower yield of overall phenolic compounds compared to wild type (WT) lignin. Quantum mechanical calculation clearly shows the higher electrophilicity of transgenic lignin than that of WT, which could promote both fragmentation and recondensation reactions. This work provides mechanistic insights toward biomass genetic engineering and its application to the pyrolysis allowing to establish sustainable biorefinery in the future.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1384-1389
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• 2023

This work aimed to evaluate the feasibility of biohydrogen production from Barley Straw and Miscanthus. The primary obstacle in plant biomass decomposition is the recalcitrance of the biomass itself. Plant cell walls consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, which make the plant robust to decomposition. However, the hyperthermophilic bacterium, Caldicellulosiruptor bescii, can efficiently utilize lignocellulosic feedstocks (Barley Straw and Miscanthus) for energy production, and C. bescii can now be metabolically engineered or isolated to produce more hydrogen and other biochemicals. In the present study, two strains, C. bescii JWCB001 (wild-type) and JWCB018 (ΔpyrFA Δldh ΔcbeI), were tested for their ability to increase hydrogen production from Barley Straw and Miscanthus. The JWCB018 resulted in a redirection of carbon and electron (carried by NADH) flow from lactate production to acetate and hydrogen production. JWCB018 produced ~54% and 63% more acetate and hydrogen from Barley Straw, respectively than its wild-type counterpart, JWCB001. Also, 25% more hydrogen from Miscanthus was obtained by the JWCB018 strain with 33% more acetate relative to JWCB001. It was supported that the engineered C. bescii, such as the JWCB018, can be a parental strain to get more hydrogen and other biochemicals from various biomass.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.845-850
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• 2009

Bioethanol derived from lignocellulosic biomass has the potential to replace gasoline. Cellulose is naturally recalcitrant to enzymatic attack, and it also surrounded by the matrix of xylan and lignin, which enhances the recalcitrance. Therefore, lignocellulosic materials must be pretreated to make the cellulose easily degraded into sugars and further fermented to ethanol. In this work, hydrothermal pretreatment on corn stover at $195^{\circ}C$ for 15 min with and without lower concentration of formic acid was compared in terms of sugar recoveries and ethanol fermentation. For pretreatment with formic acid, the overall glucan recovery was 89% and pretreatment without formic acid yielded the recovery of 94%. Compared with glucan, xylan was more sensitive to the pretreatment condition. The lowest xylan recovery of 55% was obtained after pretreatment with formic acid and the highest of 75% found following pretreatment without formic acid. Toxicity tests of liquor parts showed that there were no inhibitions found for both pretreatment conditions. After simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of the pretreated corn stover with Baker's yeast, the highest ethanol yield of 76.5% of the theoretical was observed from corn stover pretreated at $195^{\circ}C$ for 15 min with formic acid.