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Soaking Pretreatment of Corn Stover for Bioethanol Production Followed by Anaerobic Digestion Process

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Abstract

The production of ethanol and methane from corn stover (CS) was investigated in a biorefinery process. Initially, a novel soaking pretreatment (NaOH and aqueous-ammonia) for CS was developed to remove lignin, swell the biomass, and improve enzymatic digestibility. Based on the sugar yield during enzymatic hydrolysis, the optimal pretreatment conditions were 1 % NaOH + 8 % NH4OH, 50°C, 48 h, with a solid-to-liquid ratio 1:10. The results demonstrated that soaking pretreatment removed 63.6 % lignin while reserving most of the carbohydrates. After enzymatic hydrolysis, the yields of glucose and xylose were 78.5 % and 69.3 %, respectively. The simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of pretreated CS using Pichia stipitis resulted in an ethanol concentration of 36.1 g/L, corresponding only to 63.3 % of the theoretical maximum. In order to simplify the process and reduce the capital cost, the liquid fraction of the pretreatment was used to re-soak new CS. For methane production, the re-soaked CS and the residues of SSF were anaerobically digested for 120 days. Fifteen grams CS were converted to 1.9 g of ethanol and 1337.3 mL of methane in the entire process.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support received from the Key Projects of the National Science & Technology Pillar Program (2008BADC4B13; 2008BADC4B16; 2011BAD22B01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science, Capital Normal University, No.105, Northwest Third Ring Road, Beijing, 100048, China

    Zhuang Zuo, Shen Tian, Zebing Chen, Jia Li & Xiushan Yang

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  1. Zhuang Zuo
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Correspondence to Xiushan Yang.

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Zuo, Z., Tian, S., Chen, Z. et al. Soaking Pretreatment of Corn Stover for Bioethanol Production Followed by Anaerobic Digestion Process. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 167, 2088–2102 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-012-9751-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-012-9751-3

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