M16
AFEX pretreated Agave residues – a potential biorefinery feed stock to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals
Monday, April 28, 2014
Exhibit/Poster Hall, lower level (Hilton Clearwater Beach)
Carlos Alberto Flores-Gomez, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI, Christa Gunawan, Biomass Conversion Research Laboratory, Deparment of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI, Eleazar Escamilla, Chemical Engineering, Instituto Tecnológico de Celaya, Celaya, Mexico, Venkatesh Balan, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science,, Michigan State University and University of Pune, Lansing, MI and Bruce Dale, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Lansing, MI
The interest in crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants for liquid biofuels is receiving increased attention. CAM plants are adapted to grow under conditions of low water availability in arid lands and they can fix CO2 at night by CAM pathway to reduce evapotranspiration. Utilization of lignocellulosic biomass for biofuels requires an effective pretreatment to deconstruct the lignin-carbohydrate complex network and yield fermentable sugars. Low severity pretreatments are required to obtain digestible and fermentable material, prevent loss of available sugars, and avoid the formation of inhibitory byproducts that affect subsequent hydrolysis and fermentation steps.
We compare the effects of different AFEX™ pretreatment conditions on the bagasse and leaf fibers residues from two commercial agave species (Agave Salmiana and Agave Blue Tequilana weber) that are used for alcoholic beverages and functional foods in Mexico. These residues represent more than 60% of the total dry weight of the whole agave plant.
Using appropriate design of experiments, we have optimized AFEX pretreatment conditions (ammonia to biomass loading, moisture, residence time, temperature, etc.) using an optimal commercial enzymes cocktail (containing cellulases and hemicellulases) for saccharification of these four materials. The AFEX pretreatment provides high sugar yields (glucose, xylose and galactose) and may permit exploitation of these recalcitrant agro-industrial residues to produce bio-based fuels and chemicals in a biorefinery.
AFEX is a registered trademark of MBI, Lansing, Michigan.
