Abstract
Within a biorefinery context, bioethanol is a promising platform molecule since it can be used as raw material to produce a wide spectrum of valuable industrial products such as H2 and light olefins. However, the presence of impurities limits the conversion of bioethanol in these products. Herein, we aimed to determine the proper pretreatment and fermentation conditions to yield bioethanol with a low content of impurities, such as 3-methyl-1-butanol, by using sugarcane press-mud as feedstock. To do so, a Box-Behnken methodology was employed to select proper pretreatment and fermentation conditions. Factors assessed were temperature, stirring, and pH during fermentation of hydrolysates coming from two different pretreatment methods named as hydrothermal and acid hydrolysis. Results showed that the fermentation temperature should be kept between 26–30 °C to assure at least 91 g/L ethanol. The fusel alcohol content would be reduced by 22% at 30 °C, pH = 4.5, and 200 rpm if sugarcane press-mud is pretreated under acid hydrolysis conditions (T = 130 °C, t = 1 h, 16 g HNO3/kg solid). Further studies should aim to integrate these conditions within a biorefinery concept to yield valuable products such as H2 and ethylene.
Highlights
Decarbonizing the economy by using biomass and biofuels is necessary to meet the agenda stated by the United Nations (UN) associated with sustainable development goals (SDG) [1]
Villeta samples were employed as feedstock to validate the experimental conditions found previously
Samples were pretreated and fermented under the same procedure described in Sections 2.2 and 2.3
Summary
Decarbonizing the economy by using biomass and biofuels is necessary to meet the agenda stated by the United Nations (UN) associated with sustainable development goals (SDG) [1]. Bioethanol is an interested feedstock since it can be used as a building block to produce a wide variety of important products, making it attractive for shifting from traditional oil refineries into biorefineries [2]. These products include hydrogen (H2 ), light olefins, gasoline, and acetonitrile [3,4,5]. Since impurities have a detrimental effect on bioethanol upgrade, it is pertinent to seek alternatives to mitigate their formation Those alternatives might include controlling the formation of impurities in upstream processes such as pretreatment, fermentation, and/or distillation, Fermentation 2021, 7, 194.
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