Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Exhibit Hall
Recent advances in lignocellulosic pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis process technologies have resulted in improved monomeric sugar yields and overall solubilization of biomass, with commensurate increases in acetic acid concentrations. Previous work has shown acetic acid to be a potent inhibitor of fermentation organisms and improvements in ethanol fermentation yields have been demonstrated through the incorporation of an alkaline extraction “deacetylation” process prior to pretreatment. However, the process still requires optimization, as it is currently carried out at very low solids (<10% w/w). The current work aims to reduce the cost and improve the effectiveness of the deacetylation process by reducing water consumption, lowering operational temperature and minimizing carbohydrate losses. Preliminary data suggests that feedstock variability, primarily with regard to acetate and ash content, influences the optimal conditions for deacetylation. Thus, a model will be presented to predict optimal deacetylation conditions for a range of corn stover varieties based on easily measured values and parameters such as neutralization equivalents, ash content and moisture content.