RT journal article
T1 Effect of hydrothermal pretreatment time on biochemical recovery and hydrogen production from lignocellulosic feedstocks
A1 Rouabhia, Amer
A1 Álvarez Gallego, Carlos José
A1 Fernández Güelfo, Luis Alberto
A2 Tecnologías del Medio Ambiente
K1 lignocellullosic
K1 biomass
K1 pretratment
K1 hydrothermal
K1 dark fermentation
K1 hydrogen
K1 total proteins
K1 volatile fatty acids
K1 total reducing sugars
K1 biorefinery
AB This study examines the impact of hydrothermal pretreatment operation time (10, 20, and 30 min) on the following four lignocellulosic feedstocks with different lignin content: sugar beet pulp (SBP), brewers spent grain (BSG), orange peel (OP), and rice husk (RH). The objective of pretreatment is twofold, as follows: (1) to enhance the organic matter solubilization and the release of value-added bioproducts, such as total reducing sugars (TRS), total proteins (PR), and volatile fatty acids (VFAs); and (2) to improve VFA and hydrogen production during a subsequent stage of acidogenic anaerobic digestion (Dark Fermentation, DF). In this context, OP reported the highest overall yields across all pretreatment durations. Specifically, at 30 min, it achieved a maximum solubilization of 57.3 gO2/L in terms ofsoluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD), 19.1 gTRS/L and 20.6 gPR/L. Regarding VFA and hydrogen production via dark fermentation, the best results were obtained with SBP pretreated for 20 and 30 min, yielding 15.1 g H-Ac/L and 97.5 mL H2 (n.c.)/g (d.m.), respectively. BSG displayed an intermediate performance, whereas RH consistently showed the lowest yields across all evaluated parameters, primarily due to its high lignin content. These findings highlight the pivotal role of pretreatment duration in the valorization of lignocellulosic biomasses, primarily aimed at the recovery of high-value-added biochemicals and biofuels, such as hydrogen, thereby supporting the development of integratedbiorefinery systems.
PB MDPI
SN 2076-3417
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/36990
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/36990
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 09-nov-2026