Structural Elucidation of Sorghum Lignins from an Integrated Biorefinery Process Based on Hydrothermal and Alkaline Treatments

An integrated process based on hydrothermal pretreatment (HTP) (i.e., 110–230 °C, 0.5–2.0 h) and alkaline post-treatment (2% NaOH at 90 °C for 2.0 h) has been performed for the production of xylooligosaccharide, lignin, and digestible substrate from sweet sorghum stems. The yield, purity, dissociation mechanisms, structural features, and structural transformations of alkali lignins obtained from the integrated process were investigated. It was found that the HTP process facilitated the subsequent alkaline delignification, releasing lignin with the highest yield (79.3%) and purity from the HTP residue obtained at 190 °C for 0.5 h. All of the results indicated that the cleavage of the β-O-4 linkages and degradation of β-β and β-5 linkages occurred under the harsh HTP conditions. Depolymerization and condensation reactions simultaneously occurred at higher temperatures (≥170 °C). Moreover, the thermostability of lignin was positively related to its molecular weight, but was also affected by the inherent structures, such as β-O-4 linkages and condensed units. These findings will enhance the understanding of structural transformations of the lignins during the integrated process and maximize the potential utilizations of the lignins in a current biorefinery process.