Enzymatic conversion of unusual cellulosic wastes to alcohol fuel. Alcohol-Fuels Grant Program
Samples of unusual cellulosic wastes from a Sulfite pulp mill, spent mushroom compost and wastes from a cellophane manufacturing plant were collected and analyzed for saccharide content. This analysis showed that the pulp mill wastes (fines) had the greatest cellulose content (78%), while the cellophane wastes contained up to 40% cellulose. The mushroom compost could not be used as a substrate for ethanol production and was removed from the study after preliminary saccharification studies. The cellulose in the pulp mill waste was readily hydrolyzed to cellobiose by the extracellular enzymes of Thermomonospora fusca YX but required substantial quantities of ..beta..-glucosidase activity in order to generate glucose. Under the best of circumstances 60 to 70% of the cellulose was hydrolyzed and converted to ethanol. However, ethanol concentrations greater than 1% w/v were rarely achieved, thus leading to high recovery costs for ethanol. To overcome these problems two process recommendations have been made. One is a novel design for high temperature enzymatic saccharification of cellulose in a countercurrent tower design, followed by fermentation of the sugar stream in a thermophilic fermentation in a packed bed containing immobilized Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus. This design should reduce the need for costly enzyme and provide a continuous process. The second design is more conventional and uses a sulfur dioxide catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose followed by yeast fermentation. The projected economics for this process seems to be attractive. Although the cellophane wastes were less susceptible to enzymatic saccharification than the pulp mill wastes, both materials could prove to be suitable substrates for the above processes.
- Research Organization:
- Pennsylvania Univ., Philadelphia (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-76ID01570
- OSTI ID:
- 5869148
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ID/01570-T60; ON: DE83013786
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
CELLULOSE
ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS
ETHANOL
BIOSYNTHESIS
GLUCOSE
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
SPENT LIQUORS
CELLULOLYTIC ACTIVITY
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FUNGI
GLUCOSIDASE
SACCHARIDES
SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE
YEASTS
ALCOHOLS
ALDEHYDES
CARBOHYDRATES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
ENZYME ACTIVITY
ENZYMES
GLYCOSYL HYDROLASES
HEXOSES
HYDROLASES
HYDROLYSIS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
LIQUID WASTES
LYSIS
MICROORGANISMS
MONOSACCHARIDES
O-GLYCOSYL HYDROLASES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
POLYSACCHARIDES
SACCHAROMYCES
SOLVOLYSIS
SYNTHESIS
WASTES
090222* - Alcohol Fuels- Preparation from Wastes or Biomass- (1976-1989)
140504 - Solar Energy Conversion- Biomass Production & Conversion- (-1989)
550700 - Microbiology