Dilute alkali pretreatment of softwood pine: A biorefinery approach.
Dilute alkali pretreatment was performed on softwood pine to maximize ethanol and biogas production via a biorefinery approach. Alkali pretreatments were performed with 0-2% w/v NaOH at 100-180°C for 1-5h. The liquid fraction of the pretreated substrates was subjected to anaerobic digestion. The solid fraction of the pretreatment was used for separate enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. High ethanol yields of 76.9‒78.0% were achieved by pretreatment with 2% (w/v) NaOH at 180°C. The highest biogas yield of 244mL/g volatile solid (at 25°C, 1bar) was achieved by the pretreatment with 1% (w/v) NaOH at 180°C. The highest gasoline equivalent (sum of ethanol and methane) of 197L per ton of pinewood and the lowest ethanol manufacturing cost of 0.75€/L was obtained after pretreatment with 1% NaOH at 180°C for 5h. The manufacturing cost of ethanol from untreated wood was 4.12€/L.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran.
Ali
A
Safari
Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran; Industrial Biotechnology Group, Research Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran.
Keikhosro
K
Karimi
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 81746-73441, Iran. Electronic address: m.shafiei@eng.ui.ac.ir.
Marzieh
M
Shafiei
D000468:Alkalies; D056804:Biofuels; D000431:Ethanol; D005285:Fermentation; D006868:Hydrolysis
D000468:Alkalies; D056804:Biofuels; D000431:Ethanol
Biogas; Biorefinery; Dilute alkali pretreatment; Ethanol; Softwood pine