Integrated production of ethanol fuel and protein from coastal bermudagrass
- Texas A M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
- National Research Center, Cairo (Egypt)
- AFEX Corp., Brenham, TX (United States)
The herbaceous crops that may provide fermentable carbohydrates for production of fuels and chemicals also contain 10-20% protein. Protein coproduction with biomass-derived fuels and chemicals has important advantages: (1) food and fuel production can be integrated, and (2) protein is a high-value product that may significantly improve overall process economics. The authors report the results of an integrated approach to producing protein and fermentable sugars from one herbaceous species, Coastal Bermudagrass (CBG). The ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX) process makes possible over 90% conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose to simple sugars (about 650 mg reducing sugars/g dry CBG) at 5 IU cellulase/g vs <20% conversion for untreated CBG. The AFEX treatment also improves protein extraction from CBG; over 80% protein recovery is possible from AFEX-treated CBG vs about 30% recovery from untreated CBG. 21 refs., 6 figs., 5 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 7086470
- Journal Information:
- Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology; (United States), Vol. 45-46; ISSN 0273-2289
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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