Pretreatment of rice straw by hot-compressed water for enzymatic saccharification

Abstract

The primary objective of this work was to measure the maximum amount of glucose that can be produced from Thai rice straw using hot-compressed water (HCW)-pretreatment before enzymatic saccharification. The optimal HCW-pretreatment temperature and time were found to be 180 °C/2MPa for 20–30 min. However, the concentrations of the yeast inhibitors were strongly dependent on the HCW-pretreatment temperature and time. At temperatures over 180 °C/2MPa or for more than 30 min at 180 °C/2MPa in the HCW-pretreatment the combined concentration of these two inhibitors (Furfural and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural) increased exponentially, while the glucose levels were near the maximal asymptote. At the more optimal HCW-pretreatment condition of 180 °C/2MPa for 20 min, 25±3 kg of glucose could be produced from a 100 kg of rice straw, which is potentially economically competitive with other sources