Long term storage of dilute acid pretreated corn stover feedstock and ethanol fermentability evaluation

• Dry dilute acid pretreatment was applied to long term storage of lignocellulose.
• 3 months’ storage led no negative changes of physical property and hydrolysis yield.
• Additional merits were found by dry dilute acid pretreatment for long term storage.

This study reported a new solution of lignocellulose feedstock storage based on the distributed pretreatment concept. The dry dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment (DDAP) was conducted on corn stover feedstock, instead of ammonia fiber explosion pretreatment. Then the dry dilute acid pretreated corn stover was stored for three months during summer season with high temperature and humidity. No negative aspects were found on the physical property, composition, hydrolysis yield and ethanol fermentability of the long term stored pretreated corn stover, plus the additional merits including no chemicals recovery operation, anti-microbial contaminant environment from stronger acid and inhibitor contents, as well as the mild and slow hydrolysis in the storage. The new pretreatment method expanded the distributed pretreatment concept of feedstock storage with potential for practical application.

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