title: Microwave pretreatment of rape straw for bioethanol production: focus on energy efficiency.
abstract: The energy efficiency of microwave-assisted dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment of rape straw for the production of ethanol was investigated. Different microwave energy inputs and solid loadings were tested to find economic pretreatment conditions. The lowest energy consumption was observed when solid loading and energy input were fixed at 50% (w/w) and 54 kJ (900 W for 1 min), respectively, and amounted to 5.5 and 10.9 kJ to produce 1g of glucose after enzymatic hydrolysis and 1g ethanol after fermentation, respectively. In general, 1g ethanol can produce about 30 kJ of energy, and therefore, the energy input for the pretreatment was only 35% of the energy output. The approach developed in this study resulted in 92.9% higher energy savings for producing 1g ethanol when compared with the results of microwave pretreatments previously reported.
authors: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. lxb3779@yahoo.com.cn
authors: Xuebin
authors: X
authors: Lu
authors: Bo
authors: B
authors: Xi
authors: Yimin
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Irini
authors: I
authors: Angelidaki
mesh_terms: D029741:Brassica rapa / Q000378:metabolism*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D000431:Ethanol / Q000378:metabolism*; D005285:Fermentation; D006868:Hydrolysis; D008872:Microwaves
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol