Chemical Response of Hardwood Oligosaccharides as a Statistical Function of Isolation Protocol

Hardwoods contain a substantial amount of hemicellulose-type oligosaccharides, the chemical structures of which are typically categorized in the xylan saccharide class. The efficient and selective isolation of these hemicelluloses is regarded as one of the most critical obstacles to overcome for their eventual biomaterial and bioenergy utilization. Therefore, the objective of the current work was to perform a fundamental exploration of the function of extraction pH, temperature, and time on the final chemical properties of the extracted hemicelluloses. The extraction chemistries employed varied pH and showed that acidic conditions provided a higher extractive yield versus alkaline conditions. An alkaline environment gave higher yields than an acidic environment and also resulted in much higher lignin removal from wood, especially at high temperature. In general, control of the pH chemistry leads to a change in the carboxylic acid groups present in the extracts. When the extraction pH changed from acidic to alkaline, the total carboxylic acid group content in the hemicelluloses removed significantly increased due to more acetic acid group hydrolysis and increased lignin degradation.