Increasing the efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass enzymatic hydrolysis:Hydrothermal pretreatment,extraction of surface lignin, wet milling and production of cellulolytic enzymes.

Acetone and ethanol extraction of lignin deposits from the surface of hydrothermally (liquid hot water) pretreated beech wood biomass alleviate the lignin inhibitory effects during enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose and boosts the enzymatic digestibility to high values (~70%). Characterization of the extarcted lignins (FTIR, Py/GC-MS, DTG, GPC) indicated high purity, low molecular weight and features that suggest that it consists mainly of fragments of the native wood lignin partially depolymerized and recondensed on the biomass surface during the hydrothermal pretreatment. The pyrolysis products of the extracted surface lignins suggest their high potential as a feedstock for the production of high added value phenolic compounds. When the enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated and extracted biomass solids was assisted by mild wet milling, near complete cellulose digestibility (≥ 95%) could be achieved. In the context of the biorefinery and whole-biomass valorization concept, it was also shown that the hydrothermally (hemicellulose-deficient) pretreated and delignified biomass solids could be also succesfully used for the production of crude cellulase from T. Reesei cultures, providing a simple and low cost method for the complementary production of cellulases utilizing fractions of the intergated hydrolysis process.