You are on page 1of 1

PROCESS DEVELOPMENT FOR BIO-ETHANOL PRODUCTION USING WHEAT

STRAW BIOMASS

University of Minho Author* HECTOR A. RUIZ


School of Engineering
Centre of Biological Engineering Supervisors: José A. Teixeira, António A. Vicente
* hector_ruiz@deb.uminho.pt

Introduction Methodology Results and Discussion


Bio-ethanol is the most widely produced biofuel in the world with
Brazil (from sugar cane) and the US (from corn starch) being the 35
leading producers. To reduce the competition between food and
energy industries for these agro-based raw material, there is an 30 In the hemicellulose
urgency to also use the lignocellulosic biomass as additional carbon Hemicellulose extraction (Fig.1) the
source for generation of ethanol and other value-added co-products. H2O
25 5 highest recovery

Hemicellulose
10
European Union states have been implementing environmental- were at 200°C/30

Extraction
Yield of
15
20
friendly methodologies and process in order to develop and optimized 20
25
min and 180°C/20
Lignin
bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. Portugal has Oil 15
40 min with yields
invested in improving the technology for bioenergies production from values of 31 and
alternative agroindustrial residues, instead of using sources that affect
10
28%, respectively.
world food supply. Wheat production in Portugal was 135,800 tons in Cellulose
H+ as
2 050 25
30

catalysts
2007 (FAO) being wheat straw an abundant by-product with wide
195
190
185 20
180 n)
potential to serve as a low-cost raw material for obtaining higher- Tem
p 175 15
e( mi
Operation conditions for hemicellulose extraction erat
u re
170
Tim
value industrial products, particularly chemical derivatives from
165
(ºC) 160
10

cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin.


Log Ro 2.76 3.24 3.65 3.94 4.42
In this work, the evaluation of process variables (temperature, T (°C) 160 160 180 200 200
residence time and particle size) hydrothermal pretreatment of wheat Figure 1. Hemicellulose recovery yield
t (min) 10 30 20 10 30
straw and ethanol production was addressed by a factorial design. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation
The recovery of hemicellulose derived sugars (HDS) in the liquid
fraction and the ethanol production of the solid residue obtained after A central point experimental design was performed with different
filtration of pretreated material were considered as response variables Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process using combinations of the variables that were selected shows the
to different processes conditions. an experimental design for cellulose+lignin experimental data and the values predicted by the model constructed
using the final ethanol titre as the response variable. By applying
multiple regression analysis on the experimental data, the following
Methodology ENZYME second-order polynomial equation giving the ethanol (Y) as a function
YEAST STRAIN
of Temperature ºC (X1), Substrate % (X2) and loading enzyme (X3)
was obtained:

Wheat straw Milled and Fraction Material


%Y =12.823 +1.567X 1 +3.56X 2 −1.24X 3
2 2 2
− 2.57X −1.135X 2 −2.582X 3 1

T −T  The maxim yield
+ of ethanol
3.784X X was
+ 80.1
3.89X atX45 ºC,
− 2.5
2.36X % of
X substrate and
=t⋅e
p r
1 2 1 3 2 3
5
l
o
gR x Hydrothermal Treatment
O

14.7  17.35 FPU/g of cellulase.

Filtrate Conclusion
This study examined a hydrothermal treatment (autohydrolysis) could
Cellulose-Lignin BIOETHANOL be an adequate process for the fractionation of lignocellulosic
materials.
Pellet
Full Factor Design 23 The present investigation also show that the hydrothermal treatment
SSF Factor (-1) (0) (+1) consequently improved ethanol production during SSF processing
Temperature (ºC) 30 37.5 45 since the ethanol concentration was 80.1 % respect of the theoretical
Hemicelluloses Substrate (% Cellulose) 2 2.5 3 ethanol yield.

Bioethanol Enzyme Loading (FPU/ g) 5 17.5 30

Engenharia para a Qualidade de Vida: MOBILIDADE E ENERGIA – Semana da Escola de Engenharia -11 a 16 de Outubro de 2010

You might also like