The resulting steam-exploded material (SEB) was washed twice with
water for 30 min at room temperature under a 5 wt% total solids
(TS). A fraction of the water-washed SEB was separated and characterized
as described below. The remaining substrate was stored
at 4 ◦C in vacuum-sealed bags until further use.
The water-washed SEB was also submitted to an alkaline extraction.
The conditions used for this purpose were established by the
optimization procedure described below. The resulting delignified
substrate was referred to as sono-assisted alkali-washed steamexploded
bagasse (SA-AWSEB).