Enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stalk and corn cob with deep eutectic solvent pretreatment.

Deep eutectic solvent including Choline chloride (ChCl)/Ethylene glycol (EG) and betaine HCL (BH)/EG and the temperature range of 80-100 °C for 1-7h was deemed suitable for enhancing the enzymatic saccharification efficiency of corn stalk and corn cob. The effectiveness of the pretreatment was established by the extent of lignin removal and the sugar yield of enzymatic hydrolysis. The results showed that both ChCl/EG and BH/EG pretreatments could boost the sugar yields from the two biomass, the sugar yields were reached 60.06 %, 58.33 %, 76.8 % and 67.03 %, respectively, under the best conditions. The saccharification yield from enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stalk and corn cob, subjected to ChCl/EG and BH/EG pretreatments, escalated by 42.36 %、40.63 % and 59.1 %、49.33 %, respectively, in comparison to the control samples. Post-pretreatment, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses revealed no significant alterations in the crystalline lattice structure of the corn stalk and corn cob samples. In contrast, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) visualisations depicted a pronounced modification in the micro- and nano-architecture of the lignocellulosic biomass.