Bioethanol Production from Ammonia Percolated Wheat Straw

This study examined the effectiveness of ammonia percolation pretreatment of wheat straw for ethanol production. Ground wheat straw at a 10% (w/v) loading was pretreated with a 15% (v/v) ammonia solution. The experiments were performed at treatment temperature of 50 similar to 170 degrees C and residence time of 10 similar to 150 min. The solids treated with the ammonia solution showed high lignin degradation and sugar availability. The pretreated wheat straw was hydrolyzed by a cellulase complex (NS50013) and beta-glucosidase (NS50010) at 45 degrees C. After saccharification, Saccharomyces cerevisiae was added for fermentation. The incubator was rotated at 120 rpm at 35 degrees C. As a result of the pretreatment, the delignification efficiency was > 70% (170 degrees C, 30 min) and temperature was found to be a significant factor in the removal of lignin than the reaction time. In addition, the saccharification results showed an enzymatic digestibility of > 90% when 40 FPU/g cellulose was used. The ethanol concentration reached 24.15 g/L in 24 h. This paper reports a total process for bioethanol production from agricultural biomass and an efficient pretreatment of lignocellulosic material. (C) KSBB