Cellulose recalcitrance is one of the major barriers in converting renewable biomass to biofuels or useful chemicals. A pretreatment reactor that forms a dielectric barrier discharge plasma at the gas-liquid interface of the microbubbles has been developed and tested to pretreat α-cellulose. Modulation of the plasma discharge provided control over the mixture of species generated, and the reactive oxygen species (mainly ozone) were found to be more effective in breaking-up the cellulose structure compared to that of the reactive nitrogen species. The effectiveness of pretreatment under different conditions was determined by measuring both the solubility of treated samples in sodium hydroxide and conversion of cellulose to glucose via enzymatic hydrolysis. Solutions pretreated under pH 3 buffer solutions achieved the best result raising the solubility from 17% to 70% and improving the glucose conversion from 24% to 51%. Under the best conditions, plasma-microbubble treatment caused pronounced crevices on the cellulose surface enhancing access to the reactive species for further breakdown of the structure and to enzymes for saccharification.

中文翻译：

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微泡增强介电势垒放电预处理微晶纤维素。

纤维素的顽固性是将可再生生物质转化为生物燃料或有用化学品的主要障碍之一。已经开发并测试了一种预处理反应器，该反应器在微泡的气液界面形成介电阻挡放电等离子体，以预处理α-纤维素。等离子体放电的调制提供了对产生的物质混合物的控制，并且发现与活性氮物质相比，活性氧物质（主要是臭氧）在分解纤维素结构方面更有效。通过测量处理过的样品在氢氧化钠中的溶解度和纤维素通过酶水解转化为葡萄糖来确定不同条件下预处理的有效性。在 pH 3 缓冲溶液下预处理的溶液取得了最佳结果，将溶解度从 17% 提高到 70%，并将葡萄糖转化率从 24% 提高到 51%。在最佳条件下，等离子微泡处理会在纤维素表面产生明显的裂缝，从而增强对活性物质的进入以进一步分解结构和对酶进行糖化。