Aspect elucidation of a physicochemical pretreatment for continuous decrystallization

The purpose of this study is to understand the operating conditions of a physicochemical pretreatment process for lignocellulosic biomass using homogeneous acid catalysts. Four parameters were studied: moisture content, acid catalyst, type of biomass and reactor morphology. The different types of biomass (perennial grasses: sugarcane bagasse, corn stover; flowering plants: cannabis (stalks and leaves); hardwoods (pulp and bark): poplar, sugar maple; softwood bark) were processed in a meat grinder with sulfuric acid. Furthermore, softwood bark was used to change the moisture content, acid catalyst and reactor morphology. Biomass moisture above 17 wt% yielded less than 50 wt% glucose. Sulfuric acid, by far, had the best performance with a 74.5 wt% glucose yield in the meat grinder. The glucose yield showed a direct relationship with the non-carbohydrate components of biomass (lignin, ash, etc).

Process strategies to improve biocatalytic depolymerization of post-consumer PET packages in bioreactors, and investigation on consumables cost reduction

Massive plastics production has raised concerns about low recycling rates and disposal of these materials in nature, causing environmental and economic impacts. Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is one of main polymers used for manufacture of plastic packaging (e.g. bottles, trays). Enzymatic recycling of PET has been a route of increasing study aiming at to recover its monomers (terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol), resulting in a circular production chain. In this study, investigation of pH control and fractionation of enzyme feeding were explored in post-consumed PET (PC-PET) hydrolysis reactions catalyzed by Humicola insolens cutinase (HiC) in stirred reactors. It was found that the unbuffered reaction provided of pH control by 0.5 M NaOH addition showed 2.39-fold improvement in the released monomers (to a total of 26.3 mM), comparatively to the Tris-HCl-buffered reaction. In addition, it was observed a possibility of reducing the enzyme loading used in the process by half, leading to an increase of 2.41-fold in the specific terephthalic acid concentration released per protein amount, whilst maintaining a high products concentration (97 mM). A simplified cost analysis of reaction consumables was performed, and the data reported here demonstrates that these alternative process strategies contribute to costs reduction on the enzymatic depolymerization reactions of PET.

Production of sodium gluconate from delignified corn cob residue by on-site produced cellulase and co-immobilized glucose oxidase and catalase

The production of sodium gluconate by enzymatic catalysis of delignified corn cob residue (DCCR) hydrolysate was studied. Penicillium oxalicum I1-13 was used for the production of cellulase with high β-glucosidase activity. A fed-batch saccharification process was developed to obtain high yields of glucose. At the end of hydrolysis, the concentration of glucose reached 145.80g/L. Glucose oxidase and catalase were co-immobilized to catalyze DCCR hydrolysate to produce sodium gluconate. Under the optimum conditions, 166.87g/L sodium gluconate was obtained after 56h of reaction, with a yield of 98.24%. The immobilized enzymes could still maintain more than 60% of the activity after repeated use for 6 times. This study provides a potential route for the production of valuable chemicals by enzymatic conversion of lignocellulosic materials.

Fed-batch production of green coconut hydrolysates for high-gravity second-generation bioethanol fermentation with cellulosic yeast

The residual biomass obtained from the production of Cocos nucifera L. (coconut) is a potential source of feedstock for bioethanol production. Even though coconut hydrolysates for ethanol production have previously been obtained, high-solid loads to obtain high sugar and ethanol levels remain a challenge. We investigated the use of a fed-batch regime in the production of sugar-rich hydrolysates from the green coconut fruit and its mesocarp. Fermentation of the hydrolysates obtained from green coconut or its mesocarp, containing 8.4 and 9.7% (w/v) sugar, resulted in 3.8 and 4.3% (v/v) ethanol, respectively. However, green coconut hydrolysate showed a prolonged fermentation lag phase. The inhibitor profile suggested that fatty acids and acetic acid were the main fermentation inhibitors. Therefore, a fed-batch regime with mild alkaline pretreatment followed by saccharification, is presented as a strategy for fermentation of such challenging biomass hydrolysates, even though further improvement of yeast inhibitor tolerance is also needed.

Lignocellulose-Biorefinery: Ethanol-Focused

The development prospects of the world markets for petroleum and other liquid fuels are diverse and partly contradictory. However, comprehensive changes for the energy supply of the future are essential. Notwithstanding the fact that there are still very large deposits of energy resources from a geological point of view, the finite nature of conventional oil reserves is indisputable. To reduce our dependence on oil, the EU, the USA, and other major economic zones rely on energy diversification. For this purpose, alternative materials and technologies are being sought, and is most obvious in the transport sector. The objective is to progressively replace fossil fuels with renewable and more sustainable fuels. In this respect, biofuels have a pre-eminent position in terms of their capability of blending with fossil fuels and being usable in existing cars without substantial modification. Ethanol can be considered as the primary renewable liquid fuel. In this chapter enzymes, micro-organisms, and processes for ethanol production based on renewable resources are described.

Enzyme feeding strategies for better fed-batch enzymatic hydrolysis of empty fruit bunch

Lignin inhibitory becomes a major obstacle for enzymatic hydrolysis of empty fruit bunch conducted in high solid loading. Since current technology required high enzyme loading, surfactant application could not effectively used since it is only efficient in low enzyme loading. In addition, it will increase final operation cost. Hence, another method namely "proportional enzyme feeding" was investigated in this paper. In this method, enzyme was added to reactor proportionally to substrate addition, different from conventional method ("whole enzyme feeding") where whole enzyme was added prior to hydrolysis process started. Proportional enzyme feeding could increase enzymatic digestibility and glucose concentration up to 26% and 12% respectively, compared to whole enzyme feeding for hydrolysis duration more than 40h. If enzymatic hydrolysis was run less than 40h (25% solid loading), whole enzyme feeding is preferable.

Yield-determining components in high-solid integrated first and second generation bioethanol production from cassava residues, furfual residues and corn

Protein, cellulose, and starch were yield-determining components in high-solids integration process for ethanol production from cassava residuals, furfural residuals and corn.