Researchers unlock secrets of cellulosic pretreatment

In Tennessee, researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Georgia Tech, using a small-angle neutron scattering technique, have described the crystalline morphing of switchgrass under hot sulphuric acid pretreatment.

The researchers found that the crystal length of cellulose fibrils doubles during pretreatment and that lignin redistributes to form droplets that are 30 to 40 nanometers in size. The researchers concluded that pretreatment works by redistributing lignin and removing hemicellulose.

More on the story.