Biorefinery on-demand: Modulating pretreatments to recover lignin, hemicellulose, and extractives as co-products during ethanol production

Autor(es)

Scopel, Eupidio ^[1] ; Rezende, Camila A. ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Chem, Phys Chem Dept, UNICAMP, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS; v. 163, MAY 2021.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

In this work, we designed three scenarios to obtain ethanol as the main product from an elephant grass biorefinery and maximize the recovery of extractives, hemicellulose, and lignin. Common pretreatment methodologies, such as diluted acid and alkaline treatments, ball milling and pressurized liquid extractions (PLE) were combined to provide a detailed quantification of the products obtained in each step, enabling an assertive choice for further decision-making depending on the demand for specific products. Scenario 1 was based on an alkaline treatment at mild conditions (85 degrees C for 20 min, followed by ball milling) and stood out as the most efficient setup for ethanol production (up to 100 kg of ethanol/ton biomass). Scenario 2 was elaborated by adding a diluted acid step prior to the alkaline treatment, enabling the production of up to 77 kg of ethanol/ton biomass, together with the best fractionation results (up to 88 % of biomass use against the 28 % reported in an analogous process, but disregarding the co-products). Finally, the third scenario illustrates how the use of PLE combined with the alkaline treatment could be a clean alternative to recover biomass extractives (37-46 %) as well as produce up to 74 kg of ethanol/ton biomass. Therefore, this study could contribute to the development of greener and more sustainable biorefineries by properly forwarding their normally discarded residues and biomass components to high added-value applications. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 16/13602-7 - Estudo sobre estratégias para o aproveitamento integral da biomassa lignocelulósica
• Beneficiário: Camila Alves de Rezende
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOEN - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 18/23769-1 - Obtenção e aplicações de nanoestruturas provenientes de biomassa vegetal
• Beneficiário: Camila Alves de Rezende
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular