Abstract
Ethanol production from renewable sources, such as lignocellulosic materials, is already underway in several countries. The interest in the technology stems from concerns about global warming and the environmental impacts of solid waste disposal. Moreover, the conversion of agro-industrial wastes into ethanol is a value-adding strategy. This study aimed to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of three lignocellulosic materials— rice straw bran, sugarcane bagasse, and corn peel bran—and determine, on the basis of these analyses, their suitability as feedstocks for second-generation ethanol production. Physicochemical characterization included the determination of particle size, moisture, ash, total solids, water activity, crude fat, protein, total extractives, soluble and insoluble lignin, holocellulose, cellulose, hemicellulose, and total carbohydrates. Rice straw bran is composed of 38.33% cellulose and 19.73% hemicellulose, sugarcane bagasse is composed of 27.09% cellulose and 5.61% hemicellulose, and corn peel bran is composed of 55.75% cellulose and 12.93% hemicellulose. The characterization showed the high concentration of cellulose in the residue of the corn peel bran. The results indicate that the three biomasses are suitable raw materials for biofuel production.
Highlights
Agro-industries generate large volumes of waste and spend considerable amounts of money with solid waste disposal
Most of the rice straw bran sample was retained in no. 35 sieve; that is, the particles had a diameter of less than 420 μm
The sugarcane bagasse sample was mainly retained in no. 10 sieve (1.68 mm)
Summary
Agro-industries generate large volumes of waste and spend considerable amounts of money with solid waste disposal. The conversion of agro-industrial residues into high added value products, such as second-generation ethanol, is a solution to this costly problem (Paula et al, 2011; Sudha et al, 2015). Brazil has a large agricultural sector and produces tones of agro-industrial residues per year, the majority of which is used as animal feed or for household energy production in cogeneration systems. There are concerns about the environmental impacts associated with the improper disposal of agro-industrial wastes (Santos et al, 2012). New policies and procedures have been adopted for handling and processing solid wastes with the aim of recovering, recycling, and converting wastes into value-added products (Gombert & Maris, 2015; Jan et al, 2017)
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