Fungal treatment followed by FeCl3 treatment to enhance enzymatic hydrolysis of poplar wood for high sugar yields

Fungal treatment followed by FeCl3 treatment was used to improve saccharification of wood from Populus tomentosa. Combined treatments accumulated lignin and slightly degraded cellulose, whereas almost all hemicelluloses were removed. The white rot fungus, Trametes orientalis, and the brown rot fungus, Fomitopsis palustris, both accompanied by FeCl3 post-treatment resulted in 98.8 and 99.7 % of hemicelluloses loss at 180 A degrees C, respectively, which were over twice than that of hot water pretreatment at the same level. In addition, the solid residue from the T. orientalis-assisted and F. palustris-assisted FeCl3 treatment at 180 A degrees C released 84.5 and 95.4 % of reducing sugars, respectively: 1.4- and 1.6-fold higher than that of FeCl3 treatment alone at the same temperature. Combined treatments disrupted the intact cell structure and increased accessible surface area of cellulose therefore enhancing the enzymatic digestibility, as evidenced by XRD and SEM analysis data.