Abstract
Whole tree chips obtained from softwood forest thinnings were converted to ethanol via a two-stage dilute acid hydrolysis followed by yeast fermentation. The chips were first impregnated with dilute sulfuric acid, then pretreated in a steam explosion reactor to hydrolyze more than 90% of the hemicellulose and approx 10% of the cellulose. The hydrolysate was filtered and washed with water to recover the sugars. The washed fibers were then subjected to a second acid impregnation and hydrolysis to hydrolyze as much as 45% of the remaining cellulose. The liquors from both hydrolysates were combined and fermented to ethanol by a Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast that had been adapted to the inhibitors. Based on available hexose sugars, ethanol yields varied from 74 to 89% of theoretical. Oligosaccharide contents higher than about 10% of the total available sugar appear to have a negative impact on ethanol yield.
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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Nguyen, Q.A., Tucker, M.P., Keller, F.A., Beaty, D.A., Connors, K.M., Eddy, F.P. (1999). Dilute Acid Hydrolysis of Softwoods. In: Davison, B.H., Finkelstein, M. (eds) Twentieth Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1604-9_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1604-9_13
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