LAUSR

Abstract This study evaluated the effectiveness of different pretreatments methodologies of hydrogen peroxide, alkaline hydrolysis (calcium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide), alkaline peroxide oxidation (hydrogen peroxide/calcium hydroxide or hydrogen peroxide/sodium hydroxide), and dilute acid hydrolysis (10%(w/w) sulphuric acid) on corn cob biomass waste potential for biofuel and biocommodities utilization. The structure and elemental compositions of treated solid biomass waste fraction were characterised by different analytical techniques such as gravimetry, steremicroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Light microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and oxygen analyser. The solid fractions were also estimated based on cellulose enhancement, hemicellulose solubilization and lignin removal. The liquid fractions were evaluated with atomic absorption spectrophotometry for heavy metals presence and high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) for the monosaccharides. In all the pretreatments, the performance of alkaline peroxide oxidation (hydrogen peroxide/sodium hydroxide) was superior to all other methods evaluated with the highest lignin removal (about 78%(w/w)), cellulose was also enhanced (up to 59%(w/w)) from an initial 16%(w/w), and hemicellulose solubilized up to 79%(w/w). More of the sugars were solubilized in the acid pretreated hydrolyzate. The pretreatment methods considered in this study established the economic viability of the corn cob for biocommodities and biofuel production.