Effect of stover fraction on glucose production using enzymatic hydrolysis
Corn stover was fractionated into three fractions: cobs, stalks, and leaves and husks. The fractions were dried and 
ground through a 2 mm screen. Samples of the three fractions and whole corn stover with and without NaOH pretreatment 
were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis in order to determine the effect of fractionation on glucose production. The average 
amounts of glucose released after 60 h of hydrolysis from pretreated cobs, leaves and husks, stalks, and whole stover were 
0.50, 0.36, 0.28, and 0.36 g/g dry biomass, respectively. The average amounts of glucose released after 60 h of hydrolysis 
from nonpretreated cobs, leaves and husks, stalks, and whole stover were 0.32, 0.23, 0.17, and 0.20 g/g dry biomass, respectively. 
Pretreatment resulted in an average increase of 60% in glucose production for all fractions and whole stover. The effect 
of stover fraction type on glucose production was significant with and without pretreatment. By collecting the fractions of 
the corn stover with the highest glucose potential (all the cobs and 74% of the leaves and husks) and leaving the remaining 
fraction (26% of the leaves and husks, and all the stalks) in the field for erosion control, the glucose potential of the collected 
biomass would increase by 21%. This could represent a decrease of up to 17% in the cost of ethanol production. This indicates 
that fractionation and collection of the biomass with the highest glucose potential may produce a higher quality feedstock 
for glucose production.