Bioethanol from sugarcane bagasse: Focused on optimum of lignin content and reduction of enzyme addition

To investigate the effect of delignification on enzymatic saccharification and ethanol fermentation of sugarcane bagasse (SCB), NaClO, NaOH, and Na2CO3 were used to prepare SCB with different lignin contents. We found that a lignin content of approximately 11% was sufficient for enzymatic saccharification and fermentation. Based on this result, an economical delignification pretreatment method using a combination of acid and alkali (CAA) was applied. Lignin content of 11.7% was obtained after CAA pretreatment with 0.5% w/v H2SO4 at 140 °C for 10 min and 1.0% w/v NaOH at 90 °C for 60 min. Presaccharification-simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (P-SSF) of the CAA-pretreated SCB resulted in an ethanol concentration of 43.8 g/L and an ethanol yield of 81.7%, with an enzyme loading of 15 FPU/g-CAA-pretreated SCB. Enzyme activities (filter paper, carboxymethyl cellulase, and β-glucosidase activities) were determined in liquid phase during P-SSF, indicating that the residual cellulase activity could be further used. Thus, fed-batch P-SSF was carried out, and an ethanol concentration of 43.1 g/L and an ethanol yield of 80.4% were obtained with an enzyme loading of 10 FPU/g-CAA-pretreated SCB. Fed-batch P-SSF was found to be effective to reduce enzyme loading.