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Title: A comparative study of ethanol production using dilute acid, ionic liquid and AFEX™ pretreated corn stover

Journal Article · · Biotechnology for Biofuels
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [5];  [1];  [1]
  1. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Dept. of Energy (DOE) Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC)
  2. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Dept. of Energy (DOE) Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC); Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Dept. of Biochemistry. Dept. of Energy (DOE) Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC)
  3. Jilin TuoPai Agriculture Products Development Ltd, Jilin (China)
  4. Joint BioEnergy Inst. (JBEI), Emeryville, CA (United States). Deconstruction Division; Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States). Biological and Material Science Center
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC); Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Environmental Engineering. Bourns College of Engineering. Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT)
  6. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC); Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States). Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT). Bourns College of Engineering

In a biorefinery producing cellulosic biofuels, biomass pretreatment will significantly influence the efficacy of enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial fermentation. Comparison of different biomass pretreatment techniques by studying the impact of pretreatment on downstream operations at industrially relevant conditions and performing comprehensive mass balances will help focus attention on necessary process improvements, and thereby help reduce the cost of biofuel production. An on-going collaboration between the three US Department of Energy (DOE) funded bioenergy research centers (Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and BioEnergy Science Center (BESC)) has given us a unique opportunity to compare the performance of three pretreatment processes, notably dilute acid (DA), ionic liquid (IL) and ammonia fiber expansion (AFEXTM), using the same source of corn stover. Separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) was carried out using various combinations of commercially available enzymes and engineered yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae 424A) strain. The optimal commercial enzyme combination (Ctec2: Htec2: Multifect Pectinase, percentage total protein loading basis) was evaluated for each pretreatment with a microplate-based assay using milled pretreated solids at 0.2% glucan loading and 15 mg total protein loading/g of glucan. The best enzyme combinations were 67:33:0 for DA, 39:33:28 for IL and 67:17:17 for AFEX. The amounts of sugar (kg) (glucose: xylose: total gluco- and xylo-oligomers) per 100 kg of untreated corn stover produced after 72 hours of 6% glucan loading enzymatic hydrolysis were: DA (25:2:2), IL (31:15:2) and AFEX (26:13:7). Additionally, the amounts of ethanol (kg) produced per 100 kg of untreated corn stover and the respective ethanol metabolic yield (%) achieved with exogenous nutrient supplemented fermentations were: DA (14.0, 92.0%), IL (21.2, 93.0%) and AFEX (20.5, 95.0%), respectively. The reason for lower ethanol yield for DA is because most of the xylose produced during the pretreatment was removed and not converted to ethanol during fermentation. Compositional analysis of the pretreated biomass solids showed no significant change in composition for AFEX treated corn stover, while about 85% of hemicellulose was solubilized after DA pretreatment, and about 90% of lignin was removed after IL pretreatment. As expected, the optimal commercial enzyme combination was different for the solids prepared by different pretreatment technologies. Due to loss of nutrients during the pretreatment and washing steps, DA and IL pretreated hydrolysates required exogenous nutrient supplementation to ferment glucose and xylose efficiently, while AFEX pretreated hydrolysate did not require nutrient supplementation.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; FC02-07ER64494
OSTI ID:
1511397
Journal Information:
Biotechnology for Biofuels, Vol. 7; ISSN 1754-6834
Publisher:
BioMed CentralCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 163 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Biodetoxification of Phenolic Inhibitors from Lignocellulose Pretreatment using Kurthia huakuii LAM0618T and Subsequent Lactic Acid Fermentation journal October 2018
Benefits and perspectives on the use of biofuels journal April 2016
Comprehensive characterization of non-cellulosic recalcitrant cell wall carbohydrates in unhydrolyzed solids from AFEX-pretreated corn stover journal March 2017
Schizosaccharomyces pombe as an Efficient Yeast to Convert Sugarcane Bagasse Pretreated with Ionic Liquids in Ethanol journal May 2018
Techno-economic analysis of cellulose dissolving ionic liquid pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for fermentable sugars production journal August 2016
Activation of lignocellulosic biomass for higher sugar yields using aqueous ionic liquid at low severity process conditions journal August 2016
Impact of lignin polymer backbone esters on ionic liquid pretreatment of poplar journal April 2017
Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of steam-exploded corn stover at high glucan loading and high temperature journal December 2014
Adding tetrahydrofuran to dilute acid pretreatment provides new insights into substrate changes that greatly enhance biomass deconstruction by Clostridium thermocellum and fungal enzymes journal November 2017
Simultaneous organosolv pretreatment and detoxification of agro-biomass for efficient lignin extraction and characterization journal July 2019
An overview of key pretreatment processes for biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol journal February 2015
Steam explosion and its combinatorial pretreatment refining technology of plant biomass to bio-based products journal April 2015
Improving furfural tolerance of Zymomonas mobilis by rewiring a sigma factor RpoD protein journal April 2015
Conversion of apple pomace waste to ethanol at industrial relevant conditions journal June 2016
Biomass augmentation through thermochemical pretreatments greatly enhances digestion of switchgrass by Clostridium thermocellum journal August 2018
Multiomic Fermentation Using Chemically Defined Synthetic Hydrolyzates Revealed Multiple Effects of Lignocellulose-Derived Inhibitors on Cell Physiology and Xylose Utilization in Zymomonas mobilis journal November 2019
Overcoming challenges in lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment for second-generation (2G) sugar production: emerging role of nano, biotechnological and promising approaches journal May 2019
Characterisation of non-degraded oligosaccharides in enzymatically hydrolysed and fermented, dilute ammonia-pretreated corn stover for ethanol production journal May 2017
The effect of alkali-soluble lignin on purified core cellulase and hemicellulase activities during hydrolysis of extractive ammonia-pretreated lignocellulosic biomass journal June 2018
Understanding the structural characteristics of water-soluble phenolic compounds from four pretreatments of corn stover and their inhibitory effects on enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation journal March 2020
Techno-economic analysis of cellulose dissolving ionic liquid pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for fermentable sugars production: Process Modelling and Techno-Economic Analysis: IL Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass journal December 2015
Ethanol production potential from AFEX™ and steam-exploded sugarcane residues for sugarcane biorefineries journal May 2018
Recent updates on different methods of pretreatment of lignocellulosic feedstocks: a review journal January 2017
Fermentation strategy for second generation ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse hydrolyzate by Spathaspora passalidarum and Scheffersomyces stipitis: Fermentation Strategy for Second Generation Ethanol Production journal July 2017
Impact of lignin polymer backbone esters on ionic liquid pretreatment of poplar text January 2017
Lipid metabolism of phenol-tolerant Rhodococcus opacus strains for lignin bioconversion journal December 2018
Dry biorefining maximizes the potentials of simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation for cellulosic ethanol production journal October 2017
Using Populus as a lignocellulosic feedstock for bioethanol journal February 2015
Co-fermentation using Recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae Yeast Strains Hyper-secreting Different Cellulases for the Production of Cellulosic Bioethanol journal June 2017
Performance of three delignifying pretreatments on hardwoods: hydrolysis yields, comprehensive mass balances, and lignin properties journal September 2019
Typical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into reducing sugars using dilute acid hydrolysis and alkaline pretreatment journal April 2016
Facile isothermal solid acid catalyzed ionic liquid pretreatments to enhance the combined sugars production from Arundo donax Linn. journal August 2016
Sugar loss and enzyme inhibition due to oligosaccharide accumulation during high solids-loading enzymatic hydrolysis journal November 2015
Industrially relevant hydrolyzability and fermentability of sugarcane bagasse improved effectively by glycerol organosolv pretreatment journal March 2016
Biotechnology Application of Pretreated Biomass
  • Treichel, Helen; Fongaro, Gislaine; Scapini, Thamarys
  • Utilising Biomass in Biotechnology: A Circular Approach discussing the Pretreatment of Biomass, its Applications and Economic Considerations, p. 67-81 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22853-8_5
book October 2019
Scaling up and benchmarking of ethanol production from pelletized pilot scale AFEX treated corn stover using Zymomonas mobilis 8b journal January 2016
Multi-Scale Variability Analysis of Wheat Straw-Based Ethanol Biorefineries Identifies Bioprocess Designs Robust Against Process Input Variations journal April 2020

Figures / Tables (8)