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Invasive biomass valorization: environmentally friendly processes for obtaining second generation bioethanol and saccharides from Ulex europæus
Author(s) -
AresPeón Iria Ana,
Romaní Aloia,
Garrote Gil,
Parajó Juan Carlos
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.3963
Subject(s) - biofuel , chemistry , hydrolysis , pulp and paper industry , raw material , cellulose , fermentation , biomass (ecology) , environmentally friendly , biorefinery , waste management , food science , organic chemistry , agronomy , ecology , engineering , biology
BACKGROUND Ulex europæus ( UE ) is a widespreadinvasive shrub species causing economic problems and environmentalhazards. This work deals with the valorization of UE byhydrothermal processing (to obtain hemicelluloses‐derivedsaccharides) followed by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of the resulting solids for manufacturing second generation bioethanol.RESULTS Hydrothermal processing of UE resulted in thesolubilization of up to 21.5 wt% of the oven‐dry rawmaterial, leading to the formation of hemicelluloses‐derivedsaccharides as major reaction products. Treatments at variousseverities resulted in processed solids with enhanced susceptibility to enzymatic hydrolysis, allowing cellulose to glucose conversions up to 87%. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of solids pretreated under selected conditions, performed at various charges and solid loadings, resulted in bioethanol conversions up to 82% of the stoichiometric amount, with volumetric concentrations higher than 30 g ethanol L ‐1 .CONCLUSION Hydrothermal processing of UE followed by simultaneoussaccharification and fermentation of pretreated solids was suitablefor the selective separation of hemicelluloses as soluble saccharidesand for the manufacture of second generation bioethanol at high yieldfrom the pretreated solids.© 2012 Society of Chemical Industry