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Dilute acid hydrolysis of microalgal biomass for bioethanol production: an accurate kinetic model of biomass solubilization, sugars hydrolysis and nitrogen/ash balance

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A Correction to this article was published on 18 May 2020

An Erratum to this article was published on 04 October 2017

This article has been updated

Abstract

In this paper, acidic hydrolysis (0–5 vol%) was performed on Chlorella vulgaris biomass using a range of temperature (100–130 °C) and reaction time (0–60 min) with high biomass load (10%—100 g L−1), in order to characterize the kinetic of biomass solubilization, hydrolysis of sugars, proteins and ash release, and to verify the main divergences and similarities in relation to lignocellulosic biomass. More than 90% of the sugars present in the biomass was hydrolyzed and later satisfactorily fermented by S. cerevisiae. The inclusion of acid concentration in the kinetic model for biomass solubilization and sugar hydrolysis led to a modified Michaelis–Menten equation able to simulate efficiently the acidic extraction/hydrolysis data of all experimental runs. Main divergences in relation to lignocellulosics were related to higher reaction order and lower activation energy, reveling better susceptibility of microalgal biomass to acidic treatment. The proposed process is promising and can be easily scaled up at industrial level.

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Change history

  • 04 October 2017

    An erratum to this article has been published.

  • 18 May 2020

    In this paper, acidic hydrolysis (0���5��vol%) was performed on Chlorella vulgaris biomass using a range of temperature (100���130����C) and reaction time (0���60��min) with high biomass load (10%���100��g��L���1), in order to characterize the kinetic of biomass solubilization, hydrolysis of sugars, proteins and ash release, and to verify the main divergences and similarities in relation to lignocellulosic biomass. More than 90% of the sugars present in the biomass was hydrolyzed and later satisfactorily fermented by S. cerevisiae. The inclusion of acid concentration in the kinetic model for biomass solubilization and sugar hydrolysis led to a modified Michaelis���Menten equation able to simulate efficiently the acidic extraction/hydrolysis data of all experimental runs. Main divergences in relation to lignocellulosics were related to higher reaction order and lower activation energy, reveling better susceptibility of microalgal biomass to acidic treatment. The proposed process is promising and can be easily scaled up at industrial level.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank CNPq—Brazil (National Research Council of Brazil)—Process number 249182/2013-0, for resources and fellowship. C.E.F. Silva designed and performed the experiments, summarized and discussed the results, wrote the article and approved the final version. A. Bertucco analyzed the results, wrote the article and approved the final version.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering DII, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 9, 35131, Padua, Italy

    Carlos Eduardo de Farias Silva & Alberto Bertucco

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  1. Carlos Eduardo de Farias Silva
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  2. Alberto Bertucco
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Correspondence to Carlos Eduardo de Farias Silva.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised. The figures caption of Fig. 4, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 was published incorrectly. The right figure captions is updated in the article.

An erratum to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11144-017-1279-7.

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de Farias Silva, C.E., Bertucco, A. Dilute acid hydrolysis of microalgal biomass for bioethanol production: an accurate kinetic model of biomass solubilization, sugars hydrolysis and nitrogen/ash balance. Reac Kinet Mech Cat 122, 1095–1114 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11144-017-1271-2

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