Obtaining fermentable sugars by dilute acid hydrolysis of hemicellulose and fast pyrolysis of cellulose

A Detoxification-Free Process for Enhanced Ethanol Production From Corn Fiber Under Semi-Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation

Corn fiber, a by-product from the corn-processing industry, is an attractive feedstock for cellulosic ethanol because of its rich carbohydrate content (mainly residual starch, cellulose, and hemicellulose), abundant reserves, easy collection, and almost no transportation cost. However, the complex structure and components of corn fiber, especially hemicellulose, make it difficult to be effectively hydrolyzed into fermentable sugars through enzymatic hydrolysis. This study developed a simple and easy industrialized process without detoxification treatment for high-yield ethanol produced from corn fiber. Corn fiber was pretreated by dilute acid under the conditions optimized by Box-Behnken design (0.5% H₂SO₄ at 105°C for 43 min), and 81.8% of total sugars, including glucose, xylose, and arabinose, could be recovered, then the mixture (solid and hydrolysates) was directly used for semi-simultaneous saccharification and fermentation without detoxification, and ethanol yield reached about 81% of the theoretical yield.

Recent Developments and Applications of Hemicellulose From Wheat Straw: A Review

Hemicellulose is an important component of plant cell walls, which is mainly used in biofuels and bioproducts. The hemicellulose extracted from different plant sources and plant locations has different microstructure and molecule. Wheat straw is an important biomass raw material for the extraction of hemicellulose. The aims of this review are to summary the recent developments and various applications of hemicellulose from wheat straw. The microstructure and molecule of hemicellulose extracted by different methods are comparably discussed. The hemicellulose-based derivatives and composites are also reviewed. Special attention was paid to the applications of hemicellulose such as biofuel production, packaging field, and adsorbent. The problems and developing direction were given based on our knowledge. We expect that this review will put forward to the development and high-value applications of hemicellulose from wheat straw.

A two-step process for pre-hydrolysis of hemicellulose in pulp-impregnated effluent with high alkali concentration to improve xylose production

The viscose fiber production process is accompanied by the accumulation of pulp-impregnated effluent (PIE), including hemicellulose and large amounts of alkali, and discharge of PIE will cause environment pollution. This paper aims to relieve the inhibition of high concentration of alkali on xylose production from hydrolysis of hemicellulose in PIE. Based on the fact that solid acid uses H⁺ at the acid sites to exchange with cations in PIE and can be recycled, a two-step method including an extra pretreatment process before pre-hydrolysis (SPP) is proposed. After the alkali was removed by the H⁺ dissociated from solid acid in the extra pretreatment process, the pH of PIE dropped from 14 to 4, and the content of Na⁺ and proteins was reduced by 99.13 % and 78.51 %, respectively. After SPP, the polymerization degree of the hemicellulose decreased by 73.4 %, and the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis process was promoted. Finally, the xylose yield of SPP followed by enzymatic hydrolysis reached 57.15 g/L, which was 145.38 % more than that of enzymatic hydrolysis alone. The load of a downstream ion purification procedure was relieved compared to that of inorganic acid hydrolysis. The development of SPP contributes to the resource utilization of high alkali concentration wastewater.

Synergetic effect of Lewis acid and base in modified Sn-β on the direct conversion of levoglucosan to lactic acid

The synergetic effect of Lewis acid and base in modified Sn-β boosts the yield of lactic acid produced from levoglucosan.

Preparation of hydrolytic liquid from dried distiller's grains with solubles and fumaric acid fermentation by Rhizopus arrhizus RH 7-13

Fumaric acid production from lignocellulosic materials is an alternative chemicals production system. This work investigated the suitable conditions for hydrolysis of dried distiller's grains with solubles (DDGS). The hydrolytic liquid was subsequently used for the production of fumaric acid. After optimizing the hydrolysis conditions, the most suitable concentration of H₂SO₄ (2%), hydrolysis temperature (120 °C), hydrolysis time (100min) and solid/liquid ratio (1:10) were obtained. The yield of monosaccharides reached 258 mg/g DDGS and 15.88 g/L glucose, 7.53 g/L xylose and 2.35 g/L arabinose were obtained in unprocessed hydrolytic liquid. The furfural inhibitor in the hydrolytic liquid was also detected and the yield of it was reducing progressively in the pretreatment process. The ferment ability of the hydrolytic liquid from DDGS was tested through the process of fumaric acid production by Rhizopus arrhizus RH 7-13. The unprocessed hydrolytic liquid was not appropriate for the fermentation process. The yield of fumaric acid from the concentrated processed hydrolytic liquid reached 18.93 g/L, which was close to the yield of fermenting 80 g/L glucose. This result indicated that the commonly used carbon resource glucose could to some extent be replaced by processed hydrolytic liquid.

Effect of chemical pretreatments on corn stalk bagasse as immobilizing carrier of Clostridium acetobutylicum in the performance of a fermentation-pervaporation coupled system

In this study, different pretreatment methods were evaluated for modified the corn stalk bagasse and further used the pretreated bagasse as immobilized carrier in acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation process. Structural changes of the bagasses pretreated by different methods were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared, crystallinity index and scanning pictures by electron microscope. And the performances of batch fermentation using the corn stalk based carriers were evaluated. Results indicated that the highest ABE concentration of 23.86g/L was achieved using NaOH pretreated carrier in batch fermentation. Immobilized fermentation-pervaporation integration process was further carried out. The integration process showed long-term stability with 225-394g/L of ABE solvents on the permeate side of pervaporation membrane. This novel integration process was found to be an efficient method for biobutanol production.

The integration of dilute acid hydrolysis of xylan and fast pyrolysis of glucan to obtain fermentable sugars

BACKGROUND

Fermentable sugars are important intermediates in the biological conversion of biomass. Hemicellulose and amorphous cellulose are easily hydrolyzed to fermentable sugars in dilute acid, whereas crystalline cellulose is more difficult to be hydrolyzed. Cellulose fast pyrolysis is an alternative method to liberate valuable fermentable sugars from biomass. The amount of levoglucosan generated from lignocellulose by fast pyrolysis is usually lower than the theoretical yield based on the cellulose fraction. Pretreatment is a promising route to improve the yield of levoglucosan from lignocellulose.

RESULTS

The integration of dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis and fast pyrolysis to obtain fermentable sugars was evaluated in this study. Dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis could remove more than 95.1 and 93.4 % of xylan (the main component of hemicellulose) from sugarcane bagasse and corncob with high yield of xylose. On the other hand, dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis was also an effective pretreatment to enhance levoglucosan yield from lignocellulose. Dilute acid hydrolysis could accumulate glucan (the component of cellulose) and remove most of the alkali and alkaline earth metals which were powerful catalysts during fast pyrolysis. Further increase in dilute acid concentration (from 0 to 2 %) in pretreatment could promote the yield of levoglucosan in fast pyrolysis. The acid pretreated sugarcane bagasse and corncob gave levoglucosan yields of 43.8 and 35.2 % which were obvious higher than those of raw sugarcane bagasse (12.0 %) and corncob (7.0 %).

CONCLUSIONS

Obtaining fermentable sugars by combination dilute acid hydrolysis of xylan and fast pyrolysis of glucan could make full utilization of biomass, and get fermentable sugars economically from biomass for bio-refinery.

Effect of acid pretreatment on different parts of corn stalk for second generation ethanol production

In this study, the effects of different parts of corn stalk, including stem, leaf, flower, cob and husk on second generation ethanol production were evaluated. FTIR, XRD and SEM were performed to investigate the effect of dilute acid pretreatment. The bagasse obtained after pretreatment were further hydrolyzed by cellulase and used as the substrate for ethanol fermentation. As results, hemicelluloses fractions in different parts of corn stalk were dramatically removed and the solid fractions showed vivid compositions and crystallinities. Compared with other parts of corn stalk, the cob had higher sugar content and better enzymatic digestibility. The highest glucose yield of 94.2% and ethanol production of 24.0 g L(-1) were achieved when the cob was used as feedstock, while the glucose yield and the ethanol production were only 86.0% and 17.1 g L(-1) in the case of flower.

The comparison of obtaining fermentable sugars from cellulose by enzymatic hydrolysis and fast pyrolysis

Sugars are one of intermediates in the biological and chemical conversion of biomass. The objective of this study was to make comparison of obtaining fermentable sugars by enzymatic hydrolysis and fast pyrolysis of ball milling pretreated cellulose. After ball milling pretreatment for 0-18h, with the accumulation of alkali and alkali earth metals (from 50.8 to 276.4ppm) and decrease of the crystalline structure (from 89.8% to 10.1%), the hydrolysis yields increased from 23.6% to 56.0% in enzymatic saccharification, while the yields of levoglucosan diminished from 61.5% to 45.6% gradually in fast pyrolysis. Both enzymatic saccharification and fast pyrolysis had unique attractive features and unfavorable limitations. The present research provided a concept for considering choices among the technologies and feedstocks currently available.

Comprehensive utilization of glycerol from sugarcane bagasse pretreatment to fermentation

In this study, the effects of glycerol pretreatment on subsequent glycerol fermentation and biomass fast pyrolysis were investigated. The liquid fraction from the pretreatment process was evaluated to be feasible for fermentation by Paenibacillus polymyxa and could be an economic substrate. The pretreated biomass was further utilized to obtain levoglucosan by fast pyrolysis. The pretreated sugarcane bagasse exhibited significantly higher levoglucosan yield (47.70%) than that of un-pretreated sample (11.25%). The promotion could likely be attributed to the effective removal of alkali and alkaline earth metals by glycerol pretreatment. This research developed an economically viable manufacturing paradigm to utilize glycerol comprehensively and enhance the formation of levoglucosan effectively from lignocellulose.