Efficient and facile biphasic pretreatment for corn stover fractionation with comprehensive utilization of cellulose, xylan and lignin

Developing a mild and efficient pretreatment technique to fully utilize lignocellulosic biomass remains a challenge. In this work, a biphasic system with 2-phenoxyethanol (EPH) organic solvent and phosphotungstic acid (PTA) aqueous solution was employed to pretreat corn stover. The prominent synergistic effect between EPH and PTA was revealed to play a key role in the fractionation of corn stover. The excellent separation efficiency with 88.55 % cellulose retention, 85.02 % xylan removal, and 86.68 % lignin removal was achieved under mild pretreatment conditions. The 62.18 % of xylose in aqueous phase, and 83.44 % of lignin from organic phase were recovered after the EPH/PTA biphasic pretreatment. Furthermore, the solid residue was digested with high enzymatic glucose yield of 92.69 %, and the xylose was oxidated with xylonic acid yield of 50.06 %. Meanwhile, the high-performance lignin-based films were manufactured by using the recovered lignin. This study presented a promising way for high-value utilization of lignocellulosic biomass.