Bio-ethanol from water hyacinth biomass: an evaluation of enzymatic saccharification strategy.
Biomass feedstock having less competition with food crops are desirable for bio-ethanol production and such resources may not be localized geographically. A distributed production strategy is therefore more suitable for feedstock like water hyacinth with a decentralized availability. In this study, we have demonstrated the suitability of this feedstock for production of fermentable sugars using cellulases produced on site. Testing of acid and alkali pretreatment methods indicated that alkali pretreatment was more efficient in making the sample susceptible to enzyme hydrolysis. Cellulase and beta-glucosidase loading and the effect of surfactants were studied and optimized to improve saccharification. Redesigning of enzyme blends resulted in an improvement of saccharification from 57% to 71%. A crude trial on fermentation of the enzymatic hydrolysate using the common baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae yielded an ethanol concentration of 4.4 g/L.
Aswathy
U S
US
Biotechnology Division, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR), Trivandrum 695019, India.
Sukumaran
Rajeev K
RK
Devi
G Lalitha
GL
Rajasree
K P
KP
Singhania
Reeta Rani
RR
Pandey
Ashok
A
D001234:Aspergillus niger / Q000201:enzymology; D018533:Biomass; D002480:Cellulase / Q000737:chemistry; D031806:Eichhornia / Q000378:metabolism*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000737:chemistry*; D005285:Fermentation; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007218:Industrial Microbiology / Q000379:methods; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology; D014242:Trichoderma / Q000201:enzymology; D001617:beta-Glucosidase / Q000737:chemistry
D011134:Polysaccharides; D000431:Ethanol; D001617:beta-Glucosidase; D002480:Cellulase