Effect of dewaxing on saccharification and ethanol production from different lignocellulosic biomass

Marttin Paulraj Gundupalli; Yu-Shen Cheng; Santi Chuetor; Debraj Bhattacharyya; Malinee Sriariyanun

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125596

Effect of dewaxing on saccharification and ethanol production from different lignocellulosic biomass

Bioresour Technol. 2021 Nov:339:125596. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125596. Epub 2021 Jul 19.

Authors

Marttin Paulraj Gundupalli¹, Yu-Shen Cheng², Santi Chuetor³, Debraj Bhattacharyya⁴, Malinee Sriariyanun⁵

Affiliations

¹ Chemical and Process Engineering (CPE), The Sirindhorn International Thai-German Graduate School of Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB), Bangkok, Thailand; Biorefinery and Process Automation Engineering Center (BPAEC), King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand.
² Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Douliu, Yunlin, Taiwan.
³ Biorefinery and Process Automation Engineering Center (BPAEC), King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand; Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁴ Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
⁵ Chemical and Process Engineering (CPE), The Sirindhorn International Thai-German Graduate School of Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB), Bangkok, Thailand; Biorefinery and Process Automation Engineering Center (BPAEC), King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand. Electronic address: macintous@gmail.com.

PMID: 34298246
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125596

Abstract

Dewaxing effects on the pretreatment, saccharification and fermentation are rarely reported due to the low abundance of wax in lignocellulose. This study aimed to investigate the effect of wax removal on saccharification and ethanol yield from lignocellulose by using Rice straw (RS), Napier grass (NG), and sugarcane bagasse (SB). The wax contents of 0.56%, 1.7%, and 0.6% were obtained from RS, NG and SB after the wax extraction, respectively. The alkaline pretreatment was applied in combination with dewaxing to decipher the synergistic effect of these treatments. Dewaxing and alkaline pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass showed changes in the plant compositions. Removal of wax from RS, NG and SB showed significant changes in the surface morphology and functional groups. A higher yield of sugars and ethanol was observed in dewaxed and alkaline pretreated samples. The ethanol yields of 75.4%, 89.85%, and 74% from RS, NG, and SB were obtained after fermentation, respectively.

Keywords: Alkaline pretreatment; Biorefinery; Dewax; Ethanol; Lignocellulosic biomass.

MeSH terms

Biomass
Ethanol*
Fermentation
Hydrolysis
Lignin* / metabolism

Substances

lignocellulose
Ethanol
Lignin