The best utilization of D. zingiberensis C.H. Wright by an eco-friendly process

An eco-friendly process for the best utilization of D. zingiberensis C.H. Wright tubers was developed. In the first stage, cellulose and ethanol were recovered by physical separation, multi-enzymes hydrolysis with yeast fermentation, and in the second stage diosgenin was separated using ethanol-modified supercritical carbon dioxide extraction. The new approach could not only recover 95% of diosgenin production, 95% of ethanol and 75% of cellulose, but also efficiently reduce 88% of COD in wastewater compared with the conventional method, which only extract diosgenin with discharging 80,000 mg/l of COD into public sewers. The research indicates that the proposed system could be a clean and technological-efficient alternative to conventional processing of D. zingiberensis C.H. Wright tubers in industry.