Delignification of corncob via combined hydrodynamic cavitation and enzymatic pretreatment: process optimization by response surface methodology

BACKGROUND: Renewable liquid biofuel production will reduce crude oil import of India. To displace the huge quantity of fossil fuels used for energy production, this research was focused on utilization of unexploited low-cost agricultural residues for biofuel production. Corncobs are a byproduct of corn processing industry, and till now it is not utilized for biofuel production, eventhough it has high lignocellulosic concent. In this study, combined hydrodynamic cavitation and enzymatic (HCE) method was evaluated as a pretreatment method of corncob for biofuel production. The most significant process parameters namely (i) enzyme loading (3–10 U g(−1)), (ii) biomass loading (2.5–5.0%), and (iii) duration (5–60 min) were optimized and their effects on combined HCE pretreatment of corncob was studied through response surface methodology for lignin reduction, hemicellulose reduction and cellulose increase. RESULTS: The highest lignin reduction (47.4%) was obtained in orifice plate 1 (OP(1)) under the optimized conditions namely biomass loading at 5%, enzyme loading at 6.5 U g(−1) of biomass, and reaction duration of 60 min. The above tested independent variables had a significant effect on lignin reduction. The cavitational yield and energy consumption under the above-mentioned optimized conditions for OP(1) was 3.56 × 10(−5) g J(−1) and 1.35 MJ kg(−1), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: It is evident from the study that HCE is an effective technology and requires less energy (1.35 MJ kg(−1)) than other biomass pretreatment methods. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13068-018-1204-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.