Tuesday, April 20, 2010
8-65

Combined production of bioethanol and biogas from wheat straw using weak organic acid hydrolysis pretreatment

Elisabeth Joelsson, Ola Wallberg, Mats Galbe, and Guido Zacchi. Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, Lund, SE-221 00, Sweden

Rising oil prices and the huge environmental impact caused by fossil fuels have intensified the search for renewable and sustainable energy sources. For the transportation sector one of the considered feedstock’s for fuel production is lignocellulosic material. One such source that has not yet been fully explored, is wheat straw, which is a residual material that has high energy content and does not compete with food production. It consists of a fairly great amount of both cellulose and hemicellulose, which is suitable for production of both bioethanol and biogas in an integrated process. The remaining lignin would be used to provide heat and electricity for the process. This polygeneration would improve both the energy efficiency and the economics of the process. It is also crucial to make the process as environmental friendly as possible.

 In this study the prospect of utilizing weak organic acids combined with steam explosion to pretreat the material, is investigated. The pretreated material is used for ethanol production, by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation using hexose and pentose fermenting yeasts. The residual sugars and other organic material, including the acid used in the pretreatment, are used for biogas production by anaerobic digestion. The study comprises an optimization between how much ethanol and biogas are produced to maximize the energy efficiency of the process.

 Results from the on-going experimental study on both ethanol and biogas production will be presented.


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