Thursday, May 3, 2012: 10:00 AM
Napoleon Ballroom A and B, 3rd fl (Sheraton New Orleans)
Concerns pertaining to depleting crude oil, accumulating greenhouse gases, and national energy security have catalyzed the development of sustainable production of alternative biofuels from non-food lignocellulosic biomass. With consideration of diverse feedstocks in different regions of the United States and the heterogeneity of the same feedstock due to different growth conditions, harvesting seasons and storage conditions, developing feedstock-independent pretreatment without significant changes in pretreatment conditions is of importance for a large-scale implementation of second generation biorefineries. This operation will also decrease feedstock logistical hurdles and maintain biodiversity. To efficiently release soluble sugars from biomass, two promising cellulose solvent-based pretreatments–ionic liquid (IL) and cellulose solvent- and organic solvent-based lignocellulose fractionation (COSLIF))–followed by enzymatic hydrolysis were applied to mixtures of Miscanthus and poplar at various ratios. Both pretreatments increased cellulose accessibility to cellulase by disrupting highly order hydrogen bonding networks of cellulose fibers in biomass through biomass dissolution and regeneration. Our results provide new insights into mechanisms of COSLIF and IL pretreatments on mixed feedstocks, as well as their effect on pretreated biomass reactivities during enzymatic saccharification.