Abstract
Conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into monomeric carbohydrates is economically beneficial and suitable for sustainable production of biofuels. Hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass using high acid concentration results in decomposition of sugars into fermentative inhibitors. Thus, the main aim of this work was to investigate the optimum hydrolysis conditions for sorghum brown midrib IS11861 biomass to maximize the pentose sugars yield with minimized levels of fermentative inhibitors at low acid concentrations. Process parameters investigated include sulfuric acid concentration (0.2–1 M), reaction time (30–120 min) and temperature (80–121 °C). At the optimum condition (0.2 M sulfuric acid, 121 °C and 120 min), 97.6% of hemicellulose was converted into xylobiose (18.02 mg/g), xylose (225.2 mg/g), arabinose (20.2 mg/g) with low concentration of furfural (4.6 mg/g). Furthermore, the process parameters were statistically optimized using response surface methodology based on central composite design. Due to the presence of low concentration of fermentative inhibitors, 78.6 and 82.8% of theoretical ethanol yield were attained during the fermentation of non-detoxified and detoxified hydrolyzates, respectively, using Pichia stipitis 3498 wild strain, in a techno-economical way.
Highlights
The energy consumption is expected to continue increasing rapidly owing to high economic growth, increasing populations and ongoing industrialization which has led to depletion of fossil fuels
The main aim of this work was to investigate the optimum hydrolysis conditions for sorghum brown midrib IS11861 biomass to maximize the pentose sugars yield with minimized levels of fermentative inhibitors at low acid concentrations
At the optimum condition (0.2 M sulfuric acid, 121 °C and 120 min), 97.6% of hemicellulose was converted into xylobiose (18.02 mg/g), xylose (225.2 mg/g), arabinose (20.2 mg/g) with low concentration of furfural (4.6 mg/g)
Summary
The energy consumption is expected to continue increasing rapidly owing to high economic growth, increasing populations and ongoing industrialization which has led to depletion of fossil fuels. The production of alternative energy from renewable resources is very essential to fulfill the future generation requirements. The interest of modern research has been switched from food-based ethanol (first-generation biofuels from sweet sorghum grains, sugarcane and corn) to non-food-based ethanol (second-generation biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass) (Naik et al 2010). Inedible agricultural lignocellulosic materials such as sorghum biomass, corn stover, rice husk and wheat straw are abundantly available on the earth. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L) Monech) biomass is considered one of the most promising feedstock for the production of second-generation biofuels. The inherent genetic diversity and tolerance to heat and drought conditions of sorghum enables to target the development of new traits via genetic modifications (GM), thereby enhancing the palatability and reducing the lignin content of sorghum (Rao et al 2009)
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