ETHANOL ORGANOSOLV PRETREATMENT OF TYPHA CAPENSIS FOR BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION AND CO-PRODUCTS

Abstract

Typha capensis (TC), a highly prolific, invasive grass found in many parts of the world, is a common pest that grows in waterways, but it may be a good lignocellulosic substrate for bioethanol production. Sulfuric acid-catalyzed ethanol organosolv pretreatment was used to investigate the possibility of harnessing the benefits of both fermentable sugars and lignin by reacting at varying defined severity levels. It was observed that TC polysaccharides were particularly susceptible to hydrolysis, which was associated with the formation of a large amount of pseudo-lignin due to the degradation of sugars. Pseudo-lignin had a negative impact on enzymatic hydrolysis. At optimal conditions, the process enabled the fractionation of TC into glucan-rich solid fractions with enhanced digestibility, recovery of organosolv lignin, and easily hydrolysable hemicellulose sugars in the liquid stream of pretreatment analytes. About 68.33% of the glucan in the raw TC was recovered, and 85.23% fermentable sugars from water-soluble and enzyme-hydrolyzed pulp were attained. Up to 67% of the initial lignin in TC was extracted as ethanol organosolv lignin (EOL).