Development of geothermally assisted process for production of liquid fuels and chemicals from wheat straw

Technical Report · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6340189· OSTI ID:6340189

Murphy, V G; Linden, J C; Moreira, A R; Lenz, T G

The effects of variations in autohydrolysis conditions on the production of fermentable sugars from wheat straw are investigated. Both the direct production of sugar from the autohydrolysis of hemicellulose and the subsequent yield from the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose are considered. The principal parameters studied were time, temperature, and water/fiber weight ratio; however, the effects of adding minor amounts of phenol and aluminum sulfate to the autohydrolysis charge were also investigated. A brief study was made of the effects of two major parameters, substrate concentration and enzyme/substrate ratio, on the sugar yield from enzymatic hydrolysis of optimally pretreated straw. The efficiency with which these sugars could be fermented to ethanol was studied. In most cases experiments were carried out using distilled water; however, the effects of direct use of geothermal water were determined for each of the major steps in the process. An appendix to the body of the report describes the results of a preliminary economic evaluation of a plant designed to produce 25 x 10/sup 6/ gallons of ethanol per year from wheat straw using the best process conditions determined in the above work. Also appended are the results from a preliminary investigation of the applicability of autohydrolysis technology to the production of fermentable sugars from corn stover.

• Research Organization: Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins (USA). Dept. of Agricultural and Chemical Engineering
• DOE Contract Number: AS07-79ID12051
• OSTI ID: 6340189
• Report Number(s): DOE/ID/12051-T1; ON: DE81023338
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
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15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
151000* -- Geothermal Energy-- Direct Energy Utilization
AGRICULTURAL WASTES
ALCOHOLS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM SULFATES
AROMATICS
BIOCONVERSION
CARBOHYDRATES
CELLULOSE
CEREALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
ENERGY
ETHANOL
ETHANOL PLANTS
FERMENTATION
GEOTHERMAL PROCESS HEAT
GRAMINEAE
GRASS
Geothermal Legacy
HEAT
HYDROLYSIS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
LYSIS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC WASTES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHENOL
PHENOLS
PLANTS
POLYSACCHARIDES
PROCESS HEAT
SACCHARIDES
SOLVOLYSIS
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
THERMAL WATERS
WASTES
WHEAT