M91
Evaluating winter rye silage as a feedstock for lignocellulosic ethanol
Monday, April 27, 2015
Aventine Ballroom ABC/Grand Foyer, Ballroom Level
Dale Bruce
1, Venkatesh Balan
2,
Andrea Orjuela2 and Tom Richard
3, (1)Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, (2)Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Lansing, MI, (3)Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, PA
Lignocellulosic biomass is being considered as an alternative source of sugars to produce ethanol and other biofuels. In order to meet biofuel demand, sustainable ways to increase the amount of biomass available are required. The integration of double cropping systems, like winter ryegrass, within traditional agricultural systems (eg. corn, soybeans), is one potential means of sustainable land use intensification.
Ensilage is an option for biomass storage and preservation and can facilitate the logistics required to use double crops for biofuel production. Ensiling has traditionally been used for ryegrass conservation and subsequent use as animal forage but can also potentially be used for bioethanol production.
In this study, we investigated the production of cellulosic ethanol from ensiled ryegrass using the ammonia fiber expansion (AFEXTM) pretreatment. Different mixtures of ensiled ryegrass and corn were evaluated for the production of ethanol as well as ensiled and non-ensiled ryegrass samples. Furthermore, a system-wide evaluation using ryegrass as animal feed and corn for biofuel production was performed. Overall mass balances, the sugar yields obtained after enzymatic hydrolysis of ensiled materials and also a techno economic analysis of the different scenarios are presented in this work.
