The first method allowed a higher sugar recovery for longer times, and a slightly lower amount of cellulose. Cellulose residues from both the methods were comparable for cellulose content and thermal profile (studied by differential scanning calorimetry). Acid hydrolysis of the first step was carried out also in autoclave, showing that xylan degradation could be described by a first order kinetics where at higher temperature the presence of a fast reaction and a slow reacting fraction must be accounted for.
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