Role of Combined Na2HPO4 and ZnCl2 in the Unprecedented Catalysis of the Sequential Pretreatment of Sustainable Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Wastes in Boosting Bioethanol Production

Improper lignocellulosic waste disposal causes severe environmental pollution and health damage. Corn Stover (CS), agricultural, and aseptic packaging, Tetra Pak (TP) cartons, agro-industrial, are two examples of sustainable wastes that are rich in carbohydrate materials and may be used to produce valuable by-products. In addition, attempts were made to enhance cellulose fractionation and improve enzymatic saccharification. In this regard, these two wastes were efficiently employed as substrates for bioethanol production. This research demonstrates the effect of disodium hydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO4) and zinc chloride (ZnCl2) (NZ) as a new catalyst on the development of the sequential pretreatment strategy in the noticeable enzymatic hydrolysis. Physico-chemical changes of the native and the pretreated sustainable wastes were evaluated by compositional analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). These investigations showed major structural changes after the optimized sequential pretreatment. This pretreatment not only influences the delignification process, but also affects the functionalization of cellulose chemical structure. NZ released a higher glucose concentration (328.8 and 996.8 mg/dl) than that of ZnCl2 (Z), which released 203.8 and 846.8 mg/dl from CS and TP, respectively. This work led to the production of about 500 mg/dl of ethanol, which is promising and a competitor to other studies. These findings contribute to increasing the versatility in the reuse of agricultural and agro-industrial wastes to promote interaction areas of pollution prevention, industrialization, and clean energy production, to attain the keys of sustainable development goals.