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The National Research Council (2000) has set a goal for the biobased industry of providing at least 10% of liquid fuels by the year 2020 and providing 50% of liquid fuels by the year 2050. The 2007 Energy Act mandates the production of 21 billion gallons of biofuels from non-corn starch materials by 2022. Brazil and the US produce about 60% of the world’s ethanol, exploiting sugarcane and corn, respectively. Economics and limitation in grain supply lead to search for alternative resources. Lignocellulosic materials are the most abundant renewable resources on earth (Lynd et al., 2005) and cheaper than corn. Among the crop residues, corn and wheat are the most abundant in the US, roughly 96% of the total biomass (Little, 2001). Corn stover is being considered as one of the main renewable feedstocks for conversion into fuels and chemicals. According to Kadam and McMillon (2003), about 80-100 dry tons of corn stover/year can be utilized for ethanol production. It has been estimated that approximately 256 million dry tons of corn stover will be available in the year 2030 due to collection technologies improvement and a steady yield increase (Perlack et al., 2005). Moreover, corn stover is projected as the feedstock in two of the six commercial-scale lignocellulosic biorefineries supported by the US Department of Energy (Service, 2007). Ethanol production from biomass is quite different from the process used for corn grain, because the carbohydrates in biomass are more difficult for hydrolytic enzymes to access than the starch in grain (Gibbons et al., 1986). Unlike corn grain, biomass is composed of 40– 50% cellulose, 25–35% hemicellulose, and 15–20% lignin (Saha & Bothast, 1997). Because of the complex structure of biomass and its recalcitrant nature, an additional step called pretreatment is required for ethanol production from biomass in addition to the steps involved in corn ethanol production. The purposes of pretreatment are to open up the biomass structure, to increase accessible surface area, to reduce the cellulose crystallinity, and to increase the porosity, pore size, and pore volume. Extensive pretreatment effort has been made using several methods on different biomasses with varying degrees of success. Acid, alkali, hydrothermal (steam, steam explosion, hot water, pH controlled hot water), and ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX) are a few well recognized pretreatment methods.

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Application of Response Surface Methodology to Optimize Alkali Concentration, Corn Stover Particle Size, and Extruder Parameters for Maximum Sugar Recovery