A research group led by Prof. ZHU Jin at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), prepared hydroxyl-enriched glucose-based carbonaceous sphere (HEGCS), which as a catalytic accelerator can remarkably improve the hydrolytic efficiency of cellulose to sugar. The study was published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces). 

As a cost-effective and renewable bioresource, cellulose can be converted into energy and material. The application of cellulose has provided an efficient solution to alleviate energy crisis and environment pollution, exerting certain influence on the social sustainable development. However, the reativity, conversion and selectivity of the hydrolysis of cellulose to sugar still need to be improved. 

Via the hydrothermal method, researchers at NIMTE prepared HEGCS as a catalytic accelerator. By virtue of the strong affinity of HEGCS to cellulose, during the hydrolysis, the cellulose can be continuously flaked into small fragments. The whole process is like a “microball milling”, and the hydrolytic accessibility of cellulose is extremely improved. 

In addition, in low-acidic (0.02 mol/L sulfuric acid) aqueous system under microwave radiation, the efficiency of the hydrolysis of cellulose to sugar was remarkably enhanced by HEGCS, obtaining 100% conversion of cellulose and 96.0 ± 4.0% total reducing sugar (TRS) yield within 15 minutes. The average content of glucose in sugar products reached over 70%. 

This study has not only developed an efficient catalytic accelerator to enhance hydrolyzing cellulose to sugar, but also analyzed the relative hydrolysis mechanism. Furthermore, it provided novel perspective to design and fabricate catalytic accelerator for hydrolysis of cellulose to sugar, particularly in an aqueous system.