Pretreatment of Sweet Sorghum Bagasse for Ethanol Production Using Na2CO3 Obtained by NaOH Absorption of CO2 Generated in Sweet Sorghum Juice Ethanol Fermentation

Nhuan P Nghiem,Matthew J Toht

doi:10.3390/fermentation5040091

Abstract

(1) Background: Commercial production of fuel ethanol currently uses sugarcane and corn as feedstocks. Attempts to develop other renewable feedstocks that are more abundant have led to lignocellulosic biomass, which requires pretreatment prior to enzymatic hydrolysis to generate fermentable sugars. One of the largest cost components of pretreatment is chemical cost. Ethanol fermentation also produces large quantities of CO2 as a co-product contributing to global warming. (2) Methods: Sweet sorghum has emerged as a potential new feedstock for ethanol production. In the present study, the CO2 produced in sweet sorghum juice (SSJ) fermentation was captured by absorption in 5 M NaOH. The resultant Na2CO3 solution was used for pretreatment of sweet sorghum bagasse (SSB), which is the solid residue in SSJ extraction. The pretreated SSB was fermented in SSJ to produce additional ethanol. (3) Results: CO2 absorption efficiency of 92.0% was observed. Pretreatment of SSB by the obtained Na2CO3 solution resulted in no loss of glucan and only 8.1 wt% loss of xylan. Ethanol yield from glucan in the pretreated SSB was 81.7% theoretical. (4) Conclusions: CO2 from SSJ fermentation captured as Na2CO3 could be used for efficient SSB pretreatment. Further study focusing on pretreatment process optimization is needed.

Highlights

Two of the biggest problems that the world is facing are a dwindling supply of fossil fuels and global warming
Before biomass can be hydrolyzed with commercial enzymes to release fermentable sugars for use in ethanol fermentation, it must go through a pretreatment step to remove some of the barriers imparted by lignin, opening up the fiber structure for enhancement of enzymatic activity [1]
The CO2 produced in sweet sorghum juice (SSJ) fermentation was captured in a NaOH solution and the resultant Na2 CO3 solution was used for pretreatment of the sweet sorghum bagasse (SSB) to facilitate high-efficiency enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated material

Summary

Introduction

Two of the biggest problems that the world is facing are a dwindling supply of fossil fuels and global warming. To alleviate the problems associated with petroleum-based liquid transportation fuels, technology has been developed for commercial production of ethanol via fermentation of sugarcane juice and corn-based starch. Technologies for the production of ethanol from more abundant and renewable feedstock such as lignocellulosic biomass (in short, biomass) have been developed but have not reached the commercial implementation. Whereas the production of ethanol from sugarcane juice and corn-based starch is relatively simple, bioconversion of biomass is more complex. Before biomass can be hydrolyzed with commercial enzymes to release fermentable sugars for use in ethanol fermentation, it must go through a pretreatment step to remove some of the barriers imparted by lignin, opening up the fiber structure for enhancement of enzymatic activity [1]. In future biorefineries, the use of inexpensive and renewable reagents for biomass pretreatment is highly desirable

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion