Summary
This paper reports studies of large scale, 1500 kg/h, SO2-catalysed prehydrolysis of coniferous wood chips, samples then being hydrolyzed by a wood-saccharifying enzyme system followed by fermentation to ethanol in the laboratory. Hemicellulose hydrolysis using SO2 catalyst (prehydrolysis) was found to be more effective than steam alone (autohydrolysis). Prehydrolysis time was 2 min, with steam pressure at 1.2 to 1.7 MPa (175 to 250 psig), and SO2 catalyst 2.0 to 2.6% on dry wood. The amount of sugars recovered upon enzyme saccharification of the prehydrolysed wood was about 70% of the weight of the wood. When these combined hemicellulose and cellulose sugars were fermented by a pentose-fermenting strain of yeast,Pichia stipitis R, 372 L ethanol/tonne of (dry) wood was obtained.
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References
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Wayman, M., Parekh, S., Chornet, E. et al. SO2-catalysed prehydrolysis of coniferous wood for ethanol production. Biotechnol Lett 8, 749–752 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01032576
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01032576