Effects of Alkaline Pretreatment on SSF at Low Temperature Using Cellulosic Biomass

The global annual potential bioethanol production using the lignocellulosic biomass residues from corn, barley, oat, rice, wheat, sorghum, and sugar cane, is estimated. However, physical and chemical barriers caused by the close association of the main components of lignocellulosic biomass, hinder the hydrolysis of cellulose to fermentable sugars. The main goal of pretreatment is to increase the enzyme accessibility improving digestibility of cellulose. Rice straw, corn stover, miscanthus sinensis and empty fruit bunch (EFB) were selected as substrates. The pretreatment of soaking and percolation process using alkaline solution were conducted to pretreatment for break of structural barriers and removal of lignin.  The enzymatic hydrolysis was performed at 30, 40 and 50 °C. The Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF) was done to investigate characteristics by effect on its enzyme dosage, enzymatic hydrolysis, temperature, fermentation time, and reaction rate according to pretreatments. The goal of this research was investigating whether alkaline pretreatment of cellulosic biomass took feasibility to bioethanol production at lower temperature conditions than its conventional SSF with higher initial hydrolysis rate.