Acid hydrolysis of xylan

The public interest in usage of lignocellulosic biomass as a renewable resource has grown strongly during the last decade. Hemicelluloses are the second most abundant constituents of wood biomass, but have yet received less attention, compared to cellulose. In this work hydrolysis of xylan, as an example of hemicelluloses, was studied at moderate temperatures between 70 and 90 °C and pH values ranging from 0.5 to 3 with different liquid (HCl, H2SO4, triflouroacetic acid, oxalic acid) and solid (Smopex-101) catalysts. Experimental results showed complete cleavage of xylan with xylose yields of up to 95%.