Deep eutectic solvent pretreatment boosts sugar yield from vine shoots

This study demonstrates how vine shoot waste, an underutilized agricultural byproduct, can be transformed into fermentable sugars using choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvents (DESs). Researchers evaluated two DES formulations and found that ChCl:lactic acid (1:5) pretreatment significantly enhanced carbohydrate conversion, achieving rates of up to 75.2% for cellulose and 99.9% for xylan. Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated biomass was performed in the INFORS HT Minitron incubator shaker, enabling controlled saccharification. The results support a greener, efficient approach to biomass fractionation and lignin recovery, with strong potential for sustainable bioprocessing and agricultural waste valorization.