A Low-Energy Process for the Production of Pure Dry Xylose from Sustainable Agricultural Biomass

Next to glucose, Xylose is the most abundantly available sugar in nature. It is a low-calorie natural sugar that does not metabolize in the human body and does not show any increase in the blood sugar level. Commercially, for food applications, it is mostly available as a modified sugar alcohol, xylitol. Xylose is also a sustainable carbon source for biochemicals and biofuels - but, mostly these conversion reactions are carried out in aqueous phase reactions. Conn Center at University of Louisville (UofL) developed a low-cost and low-energy process for the production of pure dry xylose from sustainable lignocellulosic biomass. This process produces dry xylose under ambient process conditions using C5-rich hydrolyzates from biomass. Under a license from UofL, BioProducts, LLC is producing xylose from various cereal straws, grain hulls, and other biomass sources. The xylose isolation process using biomass hydrolyzates is discussed during this presentation.