An autohydrolysis pretreatment with different conditions was applied to sugarcane bagasse to compare the impacts of the physicochemical properties and hydrolytic inhibitors on its enzymatic hydrolysis. The results indicate that the autohydrolysis conditions significantly affected the physicochemical properties and inhibitors, which further affected the enzymatic hydrolysis. The inhibitor amount, pore size, and crystallinity degree increased with increasing autohydrolysis severity. Furthermore, the enzymatic hydrolysis was enhanced with increasing severity owing to the removal of hemicellulose and lignin. The physicochemical obstruction impeded the enzymatic hydrolysis more than the inhibitors. The multivariate correlated component regression analysis enabled an evaluation of the correlations between the physicochemical properties (and inhibitors) and enzymatic hydrolysis for the first time. According to the results, an autohydrolysis with a severity of 4.01 is an ideal pretreatment for sugarcane bagasse for sugar production.
Keywords: Autohydrolysis; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Inhibitors; Physicochemical properties; Sugarcane bagasse.