10-21: Pretreatment Fenton / Acid Hydrolysis and Fenton / organosolv for the production of bioethanol from Pinus radiata

Pinus radiata requires severe pre-treatment conditions to produce an enzymatic hydrolysable pulp that can be converted to bioethanol. In order to decrease the severity and obtain benefits in the enzymatic hydrolysis a pretreatment that includes an oxidative step using Fenton reaction was evaluated. P. radiata pinchips were impregnated with different concentrations of Fe⁺² (0.17, 0.84, 83.58 mM Fe⁺²/ g wood) for 24 hours at pH 2.8 – 3.5 and subsequently with H₂O₂ 30%, also at different concentrations (2.76, 13.76, 1376 mM H₂O₂/g wood) for 12 hours at pH 2.8 - 3.5, in a ratio Fe ⁺²/H₂O₂ 1:20. Samples were impregnated at different concentrations of Fe⁺²/H₂O₂and subsequently submited to an organosolv or acid pre-treatment  in a Parr reactor at 180 ° C by 28 min. Using Fenton-organosolv treatment a maximal glucose yield of 81% was obtained, using lower severity conditions than organosolv alone. When Fenton acid pre-treatment was evaluated, the effect of the Fenton reaction was lower.

Acknowledgement:Fondecyt 2010 - 1100898