Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7481522 | Journal of Environmental Management | 2015 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
Renewable and green energy sources are much sought. Bioethanol is an environmentally friendly transportation fuel. Pine cones from Pinus radiata were shown to be a potential feedstock for the production of bioethanol. Alkaline (NaOH) pretreatment was carried out to delignify the lignocellulosic material and generate holocellulose (72Â wt. % yield). The pretreated biomass was hydrolysed using HCl as catalyst under microwave irradiation and hydrothermal conditions. Microwave irradiation was found to be better than the hydrothermal process. Microwave irradiation accelerated the hydrolysis of biomass (42Â wt. % conversion) with the reaction conditions being 3Â M HCl and 5Â min of irradiation time. Interestingly, even the xylose, which is the major component of the hydrolyzate was found to be metabolized to ethanol using Baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) under the experimental conditions. 5.7Â g of ethanol could be produced from 100Â g of raw pine cones.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Energy
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Authors
Amudhavalli Victor, Indra Neel Pulidindi, Aharon Gedanken,