Sunday, May 4, 2008
3-36

What are the consequences of bark and whitewood utilization during bioconversion of yellow poplar to ethanol?

Renata Bura, Sharon Doty, Richard Gustafson, and William McKean. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Bloedel Hall 334, Seattle, WA 98195

Most of the research in bioconversion of hardwoods to ethanol has explored the use of whitewood feedstocks, failing to appreciate that the realistic commercial woody biomass will likely contain bark since debarking might further increase the overall bioethanol cost. In this study we have examined the feasibility of producing bioethanol from the realistic biomass, bark + whitewood from yellow polar. The overall sugar recovery, hydrolysis and ethanol yields will be compared with the control biomass, yellow poplar whitewood. Ultimately we will discuss the impact of bark utilization on pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation subprocesses as well as biomass storage during bioethanol production.