Electron beam irradiation of bamboo chips: degradation of cellulose and hemicelluloses

Electron beam irradiation (EBI) can degrade lignocellulosic materials and thus be used as a pretreatment method for efficient enzymatic hydrolysis. This research is mainly concerned with the degradation of cellulose and hemicelluloses when bamboo chips are exposed to various doses of EBI. The results show that cellulose degradation occurred continuously but without a gradual drop of the crystalline index with irradiation dose ranging from 0 to 50 kGy; meanwhile, no significant changes were observed in the molecular weight of hemicelluloses. An obvious relationship was found between irradiation dose and cellulose degradation, which could be used to control cellulose degradation by adjusting the EBI dose. Furthermore, the difficulty of cellulose depolymerization [G(s)] in bamboo chips by exposure to EBI was calculated as 0.052 µmol/J.