S160d: Fuel Ethanol Production from Wheat Straw: Demonstration of Technology at the 100 Liter Scale

Wheat straw, a globally abundant byproduct of wheat production, contains about 70% carbohydrates that can serve as a low cost feedstock for conversion to fuel ethanol.  It was pretreated at high solids loading with dilute acid at a high temperature for a short period of time.  The pretreated hydrolyzate was detoxified by using a fungal strain able to utilize the generated fermentation inhibitors prior to sugar consumption.   A good yield of ethanol was obtained from the bioabated wheat straw hydrolyzate by simultaneous saccharification using commercial cellulase enzymes and fermentation (SSF) using a recombinant bacterium capable of producing ethanol from multiple sugars.  The need for sterilization of the pretreated feedstock to solve contamination problem was easily met by using a very low level of antibiotic Virginiamycin, commonly used in corn to ethanol fermentation.  In this presentation, we will present our research on pretreatment, enzymatic saccharification, fermentation of wheat straw to ethanol, and demonstration of the conversion technology at the 100 liter scale.  The problems and prospects of developing a cost-effective integrated process technology for production of ethanol from wheat straw by fermentation will be highlighted.