Optimization of cellulose – andhemicellulose- saccharification from sugarcane bagasse for alcohol fermentation
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Date
2018-01
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Publisher
AAU, Jorhat
Abstract
Lignocellulosic alcohol production from agricultural residues has the great
potential to produce transport fuel as the substitute of petroleum or diesel, as it is
renewable in nature, no competition with food as well as less emission problems.
Sugarcane bagasse is one of the largest agricultural wastes in many countries
including India. The country produces ~40 million metric ton (MMT) of bagasse
annually, most of which is burnt and contributes to air pollution. So, it can be
considered as one of the lignocellulosic sources for alcohol production, but it needs
proper characterization as a feed for alcohol production. In this present research,
sugarcane bagasse from Assam (Buraliksion, RARS, AAU, Jorhat) has been tried to
be characterized considering its sugar components (cellulose and hemicellulose)
which ultimately contributes to ethanol production. Cellulose and hemicellulose
composition were found 37.6% and 29.2%, respectively.The process complexity,
mainly pretreatment (prior to saccharification) and enzymatic saccharification
(conversion to complex carbohydrates to fermentable monomers) has been studied.
Among the different pretreatment methods available, the most commonly practiced
one, i.e. Acid-Alkali treated method was studied and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis
was done with known commercial enzymes. Hemicellulose was hydrolyzed by
hemicellulase enzyme procured from Sigma-Aldrich and found the maximum
efficiency of releasing reducing pentose monomers along with acid pretreatment
(H2SO4) about 65% of total hemicellulose content. Cellulose was hydrolyzed by
cellulase enzyme procured from HiMedia and found the maximum efficiency of
releasing reducing hexose sugars (glucose) about 74% of total cellulose content.Not
having complete conversion or having less conversion of hemicellulose/cellulose to
its monomeric units may be associated with less efficiency of the enzyme or
complexity of the cellulose or both.