The ubiquitous nature of lignocellulosic biomass on planet earth and its economic viability attracted a great deal of attention from researchers and becomes foremost feedstock for biofuel production particularly bioethanol. However, due to complexity in structure, its pretreatment is essentially required prior to actual use. In the present study, a promising approach has been proposed through the development of acid-functionalized magnetic nanocatalysts. Two different acid-functionalized magnetic nanocatalysts i.e. alkylsulfonic acid functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄-MNPs-Si-AS) and butylcarboxylic acid functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄-MNPs-Si-BCOOH) were developed and their efficacy was studied in the pretreatment of sugarcane straw at varying concentrations (100, 200, 300, 400, 500 mg/g of straw). The enhanced concentration dependent production of sugar (xylose) was reported in case of both the nanocatalysts. The maximum 17.06 g/L for Fe₃O₄-MNPs-Si-AS and 15.40 g/L for Fe₃O₄-MNPs-Si-BCOOH sugar was reported at 500 mg which is comparatively higher than normal acid (H₂SO₄) (14.63 g/L) and non-treated (0.24 g/L) sugarcane straw. Further, both the nanocatalysts were recovered by applying an external magnetic field and reused for the next two subsequent cycles of pretreatment. It was observed that with every reuse of nanocatalysts the concentration of sugar production was reduced. Moreover, generation of very less amount of toxic inhibitors was reported in the hemicellulosic hydrolyzate obtained in the present study. Considering these facts, it is believed that such nanocatalysts can be used as an effective, eco-friendly and economically viable alternative to the conventional pretreatment agents like mineral acids.

木质纤维素生物质在地球上无处不在的性质及其经济可行性引起了研究人员的广泛关注，并成为生产生物燃料特别是生物乙醇的首要原料。但是，由于结构的复杂性，在实际使用之前必须对其进行预处理。在本研究中，通过开发酸官能化的磁性纳米催化剂，提出了一种有前途的方法。两种不同的酸官能化磁性纳米催化剂，即烷基磺酸官能化磁性纳米粒子（Fe ₃ O ₄ -MNPs-Si-AS）和丁基羧酸官能化磁性纳米粒子（Fe ₃ O ₄-MNPs-Si-BCOOH）的研发，并研究了其在各种浓度（100、200、300、400、500 mg / g秸秆）的甘蔗秸秆预处理中的功效。在两种纳米催化剂的情况下，据报道糖（木糖）的浓度依赖性产生的产量增加。最大17.06克/ L的Fe为₃ ö ₄ -MNPs-Si系AS和15.40克/ L的Fe为₃ ö ₄ -MNPs-Si系BCOOH糖报道在500毫克这是相对较高的比正常酸（H ₂ SO ₄）（14.63 g / L）和未处理的（0.24 g / L）甘蔗秸秆。此外，通过施加外部磁场回收了两种纳米催化剂，并将其用于接下来的两个后续预处理周期。观察到，随着纳米催化剂的每次重复使用，糖产量的浓度降低。此外，在本研究中获得的半纤维素水解产物中，据报道生成了极少量的毒性抑制剂。考虑到这些事实，据信这种纳米催化剂可以用作常规预处理剂如无机酸的有效，生态友好和经济上可行的替代物。