Dielectric barrier discharge plasma pretreatment on hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma was used as a pretreatment method for downstream hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). The degree of polymerization (DP) of MCC decreased after it was pretreated by DBD plasma under a carrier gas of air/argon. The effectiveness of depolymerization was found to be influenced by the crystallinity of MCC when under the pretreatment of DBD plasma. With the addition of tert-butyl alcohol in the treated MCC water suspension solution, depolymerization effectiveness of MCC was inhibited. When MCC was pretreated by DBD plasma for 30 min, the total reducing sugar concentration (TRSC) and liquefaction yield (LY) of pretreated-MCC (PMCC) increased by 82.98% and 34.18% respectively compared with those for raw MCC.