Monday, May 2, 2011
Grand Ballroom C-D, 2nd fl (Sheraton Seattle)
Algae have been investigated as a potential source of biomass for production of bioethanol which is grouped under 3rd biofuels. In comparison to other feedstocks, algae can provide a high-yield source of biofuels without compromising food supplies, and CO2 fixation ability, fast-growing rate, low lignin and high contents of carbohydrates make algae excellent candidates for renewable bioethanol applications. Gelidium amansii known as one of the red algae, which is composed of glucan (15-25%) and galactan (50-70%) can serve as a potential feedstock for bioconversion to ethanol. This feedstock needs to be processed by acid or enzymatic hydrolysis in order to release simple sugars such as glucose and galactose prior to ethanol fermentation. Although the galactan from G. amansii is effectively degraded to galactose using dilute sulfuric acid at the optimum pre-treatment conditions, most of cellulose remains as insoluble solids. In this approach, remaining cellulose is converted to fermentable sugars, glucose through enzymatic hydrolysis by cellulase. The glucose is then converted to ethanol through fermentation process. The objective of this study was to optimize saccharification conditions such as enzyme concentration, pH, and temperature, to apply the cellulose-degrading enzymes produced by a fungus isolated rice staw and the subsequent fermentation of the obtained hydrolysate by ethanogenic yeast Brettanomyces sp. This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) of Korea.