Abstract
By way of broadening the use of diverse sustainable bioethanol feedstocks, the potentials of Paper mulberry fruit juice (PMFJ), as a non-food, sugar-based substrate, were evaluated for fuel ethanol production. The suitability of PMFJ was proven, as maximum ethanol concentration (56.4 g/L) and yield (0.39 g/g) were achieved within half a day of the start of fermentation, corresponding to very high ethanol productivity of 4.7 g/L/hr. The established potentials were further optimally maximized through the response surface methodology (RSM). At the optimal temperature of 30 °C, yeast concentration of 0.55 g/L, and pH of 5, ethanol concentration, productivity, and yield obtained were 73.69 g/L, 4.61 g/L/hr, and 0.48 g/g, respectively. Under these ideal conditions, diverse metal salts were afterward screened for their effects on PMFJ fermentation. Based on a two-level fractional factorial design, nutrient addition had no positive impact on ethanol production. Thus, under the optimal process conditions, and without any external nutrient supplementation, bioethanol from PMFJ compared favorably with typical sugar-based energy crops, highlighting its resourcefulness as a high-value biomass resource for fuel ethanol production.Graphical
Highlights
At the United Nations General Assembly of September 22, 2020, China’s president Xi Jinping committed his country to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, in line with the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C over this period (UN News 2020)
As a developing country with very large human population, grain-based production of fuel ethanol in China is currently prohibited due to food security concerns (Dyk et al 2016). This makes the utilization of non-food biomass more attractive, as it eliminates the food versus fuel debate, and further improves the economic competitiveness of bioethanol over fossil fuel
To maximize established potentials of Paper mulberry fruit juice (PMFJ) for bioethanol production, juice fermentation conditions at varying levels of temperature, yeast concentration, and pH were performed for optimization. pH was carefully adjusted either with 2.5 mol/L NaOH or 2.5 mol/L HCl
Summary
At the United Nations General Assembly of September 22, 2020, China’s president Xi Jinping committed his country to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, in line with the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C over this period (UN News 2020). Bioethanol, produced from the fermentation of sugars from different biomasses, is the most widely used and most demanded transport biofuel, accounting for approximately 71% of global biofuel production in 2019 (IEA 2020) It has numerous advantages over fossil-derived fuels, including its renewability, sustainability, and carbon–neutral nature (Micic and Jotanovic 2015). As a developing country with very large human population, grain-based production of fuel ethanol in China is currently prohibited due to food security concerns (Dyk et al 2016) This makes the utilization of non-food biomass more attractive, as it eliminates the food versus fuel debate, and further improves the economic competitiveness of bioethanol over fossil fuel. This research opened up a pathway for the optimal bioconversion process of a new bioresource into ethanol, which is a contributory step toward meeting the need for a cleaner, cheaper, and sustainable energy
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