Poster Presentation 1-12

Investigation of Hemicellulose-Containing Starch Factory

By-Products for Ethanol Production.

Beatriz Palmarola Adrados, Tamás Juhász, Mats Galbe and Guido Zacchi

Department of Chemical Engineering

Lund University

P.O. Box 124, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Telephone:  +46-46-222 00 00; Fax:  +46-46-222 45 26

E-mail:  beatriz.palmarola@kat.lth.se

Ethanol derived from biomass is very promising for the replacement of non-renewable fossil fuels due to its low net emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere when combusted. However, a sufficient amount of cheap and readily available raw material is a necessity.

In this study wheat starch fibers, a novel raw material originating from a starch factory, were investigated.  This biomass consists of monomeric sugars, starch, cellulose and hemicellulose and has the potential to serve as a low-cost feedstock for production of fuel ethanol.  In order to enzymatically hydrolyze the hemicellulose and celluloses fractions, some type of pretreatment is required.

The effect of pretreatment and enzymatic digestibility of starch wheat fibers was investigated to optimize the yield of sugars.  In order to identify the optimum conditions, a range of operating temperatures (110-210ºC) and residence times (20-60 min) were investigated both with and without acid catalyst in either a steam pretreatment unit or in a microwave oven.  Results from this study will be presented

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