Determining Yields in High Solids Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Biomass

As technologies for utilizing biomass for fuel and chemical production continue to improve, enzymatic hydrolysis can be run at still higher solids concentrations. For hydrolyses that initially contain little or no free water (10-40% total solids, w/w), the saccharification of insoluble polymers into soluble sugars involves changes of volume, density, and proportion of insoluble solids. This poses a new challenge when determining the degree of hydrolysis (conversion yield). Experiments have shown that calculating the yield from the resulting sugar concentration in the supernatant of the slurry and using the assumed initial volume leads to significant overestimations of the yield. By measuring the proportion of insoluble solids in the slurry as well as the sugar concentration and specific gravity of the aqueous phase, it is possible to precisely calculate the degree of conversion. The discrepancies between the different ways of calculating yields are demonstrated along with a nonlaborious method for approximating yields in high solids hydrolysis.     

Benchtop methods for measuring the fraction of free liquid of biomass slurries

The free-liquid fraction of slurries is strongly correlated with other slurry properties, especially the rheological and transport properties. Measuring free-liquid fraction can be problematic with lignocellulosic materials, and many studies to-date have instead used the total mass-fraction of liquid as a surrogate measure. This study presents two bench-scale methods for determining the free-liquid content of lignocellulosic biomass slurries. One is based on centrifuge-filtration of biomass for increasing time intervals until an asymptote is observed. The other uses solute exclusion methods and includes a proper accounting for unavoidable adsorption of the tracer solute molecules on the biomass solids. Overall, we found both methods gave reasonable results for washed pretreated corn stover. Among our controls, the centrifuge dewatering method tends to enable better results for large, rigid particles, and can give unrealistic results for small, compressible particles. This tendency is also reflected in the results for different pretreated corn stover slurries, where the quality of the results varied with the particle size distribution of the slurries. The solute exclusion method gives physically realistic results for all of our control materials and for washed pretreated materials, but produced physically unrealistic results for one unwashed pretreated corn stover sample. Further, we show that blue dextran interacts chemically with lignocellulosic material via adsorption and suspected degradation reactions.     

Effects of operating parameters on countercurrent extraction of hemicellulosic sugars from pretreated softwood

In a previous study using a continuous countercurrent screw extractor for two-stage dilute-acid hydrolysis, which was focused on the effects of liquid-to-insoluble solids (L/IS) ratio, we demonstrated that by using low volumes of wash water soluble sugars can be recovered from first-stage pretreated softwood at high yields and also at high sugar concentrations. In this study, we investigated the effects of important operating parameters other than the L/IS ratio, such as the feed rates of water and pretreated biomass and the extractor inclined angle, on the performance of the extractor using first-stage pretreated softwood. As biomass and water feed rates increased at the same L/IS ratio, the recovery yield of soluble sugars decreased, probably owing to a reduced solids residence time in the extractor, which is related to the solid/liquid contact time. The sugar recovery yield was higher at a higher extractor inclined angle. This may be attributed to the effects of increased back mixing and a longer residence time for solids at a higher extractor angle. Countercurrent extraction was also carried out with other pretreated biomass having smaller particle sizes and poor drainage rates. The countercurrent screw extractor was found to be unsuitable for these fine materials due to the slow liquid drainage rate and filter-clogging problems. In a test for stability of soluble sugars in first-stage softwood hydrolysate, irrespective of the storage temperature and storage form, the sugar concentration slowly decreased with storage time. However, storage in slurry form showed higher sugar stability compared with that in liquor form at the same conditions.

     

TG and DSC analyses of eucalyptus black liquor as alternative methods to estimate solids content

As a consequence of the continuous increase in the production rate of pulp and paper mills around the world, a great quantity of black liquor, a by-product of the wood digestion process, is produced. This by-product has a great potential as biomass, but needs to be concentrated to higher solids content to be burned as fuel in a recovery boiler. This is necessary to make the pulping process economically feasible, incinerating black liquor to produce high pressure steam, recycling inorganic chemicals to the process. The greater the solids content in black liquor, the better the combustion process in the boiler. Nevertheless, concentration of solids in black liquor above 75 mass/%, causes scaling formation on the heat transfer surfaces of evaporators and concentrators, due to the precipitation of sodium salts, reducing the overall efficiency of this equipment. The aim of this work is to evaluate the use of thermal analyses techniques, TG and DSC, as alternative methods to estimate solids content in eucalyptus black liquor samples since this information is essential to understand scaling formation process, allowing actions to reduce this industrial problem. Traditional techniques applied to determine solids content use gravimetric methods, which are simple, fine, but take a lot of time to be executed. Thermal analyses have proved to be very accurate and have the advantage to be faster than the traditional techniques. On the other hand, the cost-benefit relationship of the traditional technique is much greater and the final decision which one should be used depends on the conditions available.     

Pretreatment of Reed by Wet Oxidation and Subsequent Utilization of the Pretreated Fibers for Ethanol Production

Common reed (Phragmites australis) is often recognized as a promising source of renewable energy. However, it is among the least characterized crops from the bioethanol perspective. Although one third of reed dry matter is cellulose, without pretreatment, it resists enzymatic hydrolysis like lignocelluloses usually do. In the present study, wet oxidation was investigated as the pretreatment method to enhance the enzymatic digestibility of reed cellulose to soluble sugars and thus improve the convertibility of reed to ethanol. The most effective treatment increased the digestibility of reed cellulose by cellulases more than three times compared to the untreated control. During this wet oxidation, 51.7% of the hemicellulose and 58.3% of the lignin were solubilized, whereas 87.1% of the cellulose remained in the solids. After enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated fibers from the same treatment, the conversion of cellulose to glucose was 82.4%. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of pretreated solids resulted in a final ethanol concentration as high as 8.7 g/L, yielding 73% of the theoretical.     

Optimization of SO2-catalyzed steam pretreatment of corn fiber for ethanol production

A batch reactor was employed to steam explode corn fiber at various degrees of severity to evaluate the potential of using this feedstock as part of an enzymatically mediated cellulose-to-ethanol process. Severity was controlled by altering temperature (150–230°C), residence time (1–9 min), and SO₂ concentration (0–6% [w/w] dry matter). The effects of varying the different parameters were assessed by response surface modeling. The results indicated that maximum sugar yields (hemicellulose-derived water soluble, and cellulose-derived following enzymatic hydrolysis) were recovered from corn fiber pretreated at 190°C for 5 minutes after exposure to 3% SO₂. Sequential SO₂-catalyzed steam explosion and enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in a conversion efficiency of 81% of the combined original hemicellulose and cellulose in the corn fiber to monomeric sugars. An additional posthydrolysis step performed on water soluble hemicellulose stream increased the concentration of sugars available for fermentation by 10%, resulting in the high conversion efficiency of 91%. Saccharomyces cerevisiae was able to ferment the resultant corn fiber hydrolysates, perhydrolysate, and liquid fraction from the posthydrolysis steps to 89, 94, and 85% of theoretical ethanol conversion, respectively. It was apparent that all of the parameters investigated during the steam explosion pretreatment had a significant effect on sugar recovery, inhibitory formation, enzymatic conversion efficiency, and fermentation capacity of the yeast.     

原煤和黑液水煤浆燃烧特性的热分析对比研究

在热天平上进行黑液水煤浆和原煤的燃烧、热解实验,得到不同升温速率下的燃烧、热解特性曲线和碳转化率特征曲线。试验结果表明,黑液水煤浆中的钠及其化合物在燃烧过程中催化作用明显,并且黑液中有机物成分对燃烧起到一定促进作用。在20 ℃/min升温速率下黑液水煤浆和原煤的燃烧活化能分别为12.98 kJ/mol和106.59 kJ/mol,反映出黑液水煤浆比原煤有更好的着火特性。     

氢气对负载型Z-N高效催化剂的乙烯-丙烯共聚产物链结构影响

用球形的负载型Ziegler-Natta（Z-N）高效催化剂，经丙烯均聚一乙烯丙烯气相共聚两段串联反应工艺制备的聚丙烯／乙丙共聚物（PP／EPR）合金具有优良的抗冲击性能，是聚丙烯的重要高性能化改性品种，已实现大批量生产，对这类反应器合金的结构表征和结构性能关系的研究表明，其共聚物组分中既有起弹性体作用的乙丙无规共聚物，也含有相当量的乙丙多嵌段共聚物．这种多嵌段共聚物既与无规共聚物（EPR）相容，又与PP基体相容，在合金中起相容剂作用，对材料高抗冲性能的形成起着重要作用．然而，负载型Z-N高效催化剂催化乙丙共聚合的产物结构及其影响因素至今鲜见系统的研究，调控PP／EPR合金中共聚物结构的原理尚不明确．氢气在聚烯烃生产中广泛用作分子量调节剂，在PP／EPR合金的生产中同样要用氢气调节PP和EPR组分的分子量．但是，加氢对共聚物的链结构有何影响则鲜见系统的研究．本文初步研究了用Z—N高效催化剂合成的乙丙共聚物的结构特征，着重考察了聚合体系中加入链转移剂氢气对共聚物结构的影响．     

Two-step steam pretreatment of softwood with SO2 impregnation for ethanol production

Two-step steam pretreatment of softwood was investigated with the aim of improving the enzymatic digestibility for ethanol production. In the first step, softwood was impregnated with SO₂ and steam pretreated at different severities. The first step was performed at low severity to hydrolyze the hemicellulose and release the sugars into the solution. The combination of time and temperature that yielded the highest amount of hemicellulosic sugars in the solution was determined. In the second step, the washed solid material from the optimized first step was impregnated once more with SO₂ and steam pretreated under more severe conditions to enhance the enzymatic digestibility. The investigated temperature range was between 180 and 220°C, and the residence times were 2, 5 and 10 min. The effectiveness of pretreatment was assessed by both enzymatic hydrolysis of the solids and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of the whole slurry after the second pretreatment step, in the presence of antibiotics. For each pretreatment combination, the liquid fraction was fermented to determine any inhibiting effects. At low severity in the second pretreatment step, a high conversion of cellulose was obtained in the enzymatic hydrolysis step, and at a high severity a high conversion of cellulose was obtained in the second pretreatment step. This resulted in an overall yield of sugars that was nearly constant over a wide range of severity. Compared with the one-step steam pretreatment, the two-step steam pretreatment resulted in a higher yield of sugar and in a slightly higher yield of ethanol. The overall sugar yield, when assessed by enzymatic hydrolysis, reached 80%. In the SSF configuration, an overall ethanol yield of 69% was attained.     

Continuous countercurrent extraction of hemicellulose from pretreated wood residues

Two-stage dilute acid pretreatment followed by enzymatic cellulose hydrolysisis an effectivemethod for obtaining high sugar yields from wood residuessuchassoftwood forest thinnings. In the first-stage hydrolysis step, most of the hemicellulose is solubilized using relatively mild conditions. The soluble hemicellu losic sugars are recovered from the hydrolysateslurry by washing with water. The washed solids are then subjected tomoresevere hydrolysis conditions to hydrolyze approx 50% of the cellulose to glucose. The remaining cellulose can further be hydrolyzed with cellulase enzyme. Our process simulation indicates that the amount of water used in the hemicellulose recovery step has a significan tim pact on the cost of ethanol production. It is important to keep water usage as low as possible while mainta ining relatively high recovery of solublesugars. To achieve this objective, a prototype pilot-scale continuous countercurrent screw extractor was evaluated for the recovery of hemicellulose from pretreated forest thinnings. Using the 274-cm (9-ft) long extractor, solubles recoveries of 98, 91, and 77% were obtained with liquid-to-insoluble solids (L/1S) ratios of 5.6, 3.4, and 2.1, respectively. An empirical equation was developed to predict the performance of the screwextractor. This equation predicts that soluble sugar recovery above 95% can be obtained with an L/IS ratio as low as 3.0.     

Comparison of two methods for determination of tomato paste solids: vacuum oven versus microwave oven

Two analytical procedures used to determine total, soluble, and insoluble solids in tomato paste were evaluated. The microwave oven (MO) method was compared to the vacuum oven (VO) method. The VO method is tedious and measured the three solids fractions in the paste directly, while the MO method measured the total solids directly but used an equation to calculate the water-soluble and -insoluble solids. The MO method was faster and less labor-intensive, and yielded small but statistically significant higher values for total and insoluble solids and lower statistically significant values for soluble solids.     

Enzyme production, growth, and adaptation of T. reesei strains QM9414, L-27, RL-P37, and rut C-30 to conditioned yellow poplar sawdust hydrolysate

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed a conditioning process that decreases acetic acid levels in pretreated yellow poplar hydrolysate. Trichoderma reesei is sensitive to acetic acid and this conditioning method has enabled applied cellulase production with hardwoods. T. reesei strains QM9414, L-27, RL-P37, and Rut C-30 were screened for growth on conditioned hydrolysate liquor. Tolerance to hydrolysate was found to be strain-dependent. Strain QM9414 was adapted to grow in 80% (v/v) conditioned hydrolysate (40 g/L of soluble sugars and 1.6 g/L acetic acid from pretreated poplar). However, enzyme production was highest at 20% (v/v) hydrolysateusing strain L-27. Cellulasetiters of 2–3 International Filter Paper Units (IFPU)/mL were achieved using pretreated yellow poplar liquors and solids as the sole carbon sources.     

盐中水不溶物测定中的问题及解决办法

分析盐中水不溶物含量测定时过滤、洗涤、称量等操作过程中存在的一些问题，提出了相应的解决办法。     

Dilute Ammonia Pretreatment of Sorghum and Its Effectiveness on Enzyme Hydrolysis and Ethanol Fermentation

A new pretreatment technology using dilute ammonium hydroxide was evaluated for ethanol production on sorghum. Sorghum fibers, ammonia, and water at a ratio of 1:0.14:8 were heated to 160 °C and held for 1 h under 140–160 psi pressure. Approximately, 44% lignin and 35% hemicellulose were removed during the process. Hydrolysis of untreated and dilute ammonia pretreated fibers was carried out at 10% dry solids at an enzyme concentration of 60 FPU Spezyme CP and 64 CBU Novozyme 188/g glucan. Cellulose digestibility was higher (84%) for ammonia pretreated sorghum as compared to untreated sorghum (38%). Fermentations with Saccharomyces cerevisiae D₅A resulted in 24 g ethanol /100 g dry biomass for dilute ammonia pretreated sorghum and 9 g ethanol /100 g dry biomass for untreated sorghum.     

Dilute-acid hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse at varying conditions

Sugarcane bagasse, a byproduct of the cane sugar industry, is an abundant source of hemicellulose that could be hydrolyzed to yield a fermentation feedstock for the production of fuel ethanol and chemicals. The effects of sulfuric acid concentration, temperature, time, and dry matter concentration on hemicellulose hydrolysis were studied with a 20-L batch hydrolysis reactor using a statistical experimental design. Even at less severe conditions considerable amounts (>29%) of the hemicellulose fraction could be extracted. The percentage of soluble oligosaccharides becomes very low in experiments with high yields in monosaccharides, which indicates that the cellulose fraction is only slightly affected. For the sugar yields, acid concentration appears to be the most important parameter, while for the formation of sugar degradation products, temperature shows the highest impact. It could be demonstrated that the dry matter concentration in the reaction slurry has a negative effect on the xylose yield that can be compensated by higher concentrations of sulfuric acid owing to a positive interaction between acid concentration and dry matter contents.     

Effect of Double-Step Steam Explosion Pretreatment in Bioethanol Production from Softwood

The study investigated the production of bioethanol from softwood, in particular pine wood chip. The steam explosion pretreatment was largely investigated, evaluating also the potential use of a double-step process to increase ethanol production through the use of both solid and liquid fraction after the pretreatment. The pretreatment tests were carried out at different conditions, determining the composition of solid and liquid fraction and steam explosion efficiency. The enzymatic hydrolysis was carried out with Ctec2 enzyme while the fermentation was carried out using Saccharomyces Cerevisiae yeast “red ethanol”. It was found that the best experimental result was obtained for a single-step pretreated sample (10.6 g of ethanol/100 g of initial biomass dry basis) for a 4.53 severity. The best double-step overall performance was equal to 8.89 g ethanol/100 g of initial biomass dry basis for a 4.27 severity. The enzymatic hydrolysis strongly depended on the severity of the pretreatment while the fermentation efficiency was mainly influenced by the concentration of the inhibitors. The ethanol enhancing potential of a double-step steam explosion could slightly increase the ethanol production compared to single-step potential.     

Hydrothermal pretreatment conditions to enhance ethanol production from poplar biomass

Pretreatment has been recognized as a key step in enzyme-based conversion processes of lignocellulose biomass to ethanol. The aim of this study is to evaluate two hydrothermal pretreatments (steam explosion and liquid hot water) to enhance ethanol production from poplar (Populus nigra) biomass by a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process. The composition of liquid and solid fractions obtained after pretreatment, enzymatic digestibility, and ethanol production of poplar biomass pretreated at different experimental conditions was analyzed. The best results were obtained in steam explosion pretreatment at 210°C and 4 min, taking into account cellulose recovery above 95%, enzymatic hydrolysis yield of about 60%, SSF yield of 60% of theoretical, and 41% xylose recovery in the liquid fraction. Large particles can be used for poplar biomass in both pretreatments, since no significant effect of particle size on enzymatic hydrolysis and SSF was obtained.     

Radiation-induced cationic polymerization of β-pinene

The radiation-induced polymerization of β-pinene carried out in bulk at ca. 25°C has been studied for different methods of monomer drying. It has been confirmed that the polymerization is sensitive to adventitious moisture and that substantial polymer yields (ca. 10% conversion per Mrad) can only be obtained under extremely dry conditions. Complete inhibition of the reaction by added tripropylamine corroborates the view that the polymerization is cationic. About half of the polymer formed is insoluble in the monomer. The number-average molecular weights for the soluble poly(β-pinene) fraction have been measured by vapor pressure osmometry and are in the narrow range from 1700 to 2400 with little or no dependence on the degree of monomer conversion to polymer, at least up to 80%. The results are compared with literature reports on the polymerization of β-pinene by catalytic initiators.     

The lignol approach to biorefining of woody biomass to produce ethanol and chemicals

Processes that produce only ethanol from lignocellulosics display poor economics. This is generally overcome by constructing large facilities having satisfactory economies of scale, thus making financing onerous and hindering the development of suitable technologies. Lignol Innovations has developed a biorefining technology that employs an ethanol-based organosolv step to separate lignin, hemicellulose components, and extractives from the cellulosic fraction of woody biomass. The resultant cellulosic fraction is highly susceptible to enzymatic hydrolysis, generating very high yields of glucose (>90% in 12–24h) with typical enzyme loadings of 10–20 FPU (filter paper units)/g. This glucose is readily converted to ethanol, or possibly other sugar platform chemicals, either by sequential or simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. The liquor from the organosolv step is processed by well-established unit operations to recover lignin, furfural, xylose, acetic acid, and a lipophylic extractives fraction. The process ethanol is recovered and recycled back to the process. The resulting recycled process water is of a very high quality, low BOD₅, and suitable for overall system process closure. Significant benefits can be attained in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, as per the Kyoto Protocol. Revenues from the multiple products, particularly the lignin, ethanol and xylose fractions, ensure excellent economics for the process even in plants as small as 100 mtpd (metric tonnes per day) dry woody biomass input—a scale suitable for processing wood residues produced by a single large sawmill.     

Composition of structural carbohydrates in biomass: precision of a liquid chromatography method using a neutral detergent extraction and a charged aerosol detector

We adapted and optimized a method to quantify the cellulose, hemicellulose, xylan, arabinan, mannan, galactan contents in lignocellulosic biomass. This method is based on a neutral detergent extraction (NDE) of the interfering biomass components, followed by a sulfuric acid hydrolysis (SAH) of the structural polysaccharides, and a liquid chromatography with charged aerosol detection (LC-CAD) to analyze the released monosaccharides. The first step of this NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method aims at removing all compounds that interfere with the subsequent sulphuric acid hydrolysis or with the subsequent chromatographic quantification of the cellulosic and hemicellulosic monosaccharides. This step includes starch hydrolysis with an analytical thermostable α-amylase followed by an extraction of soluble compounds by a Van Soest neutral detergent solution (NDE). The aim of this paper was to assess the precision of this method when choosing fiber sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and fiber hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) as representative lignocellulosic biomass. The cellulose content of fiber sorghum, tall fescue and fiber hemp determined by the NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method were 28.7 ± 1.0, 29.7 ± 1.0 and 43.6 ± 1.2 g/100 g dry matter, respectively, and their hemicellulose content were 18.6 ± 0.5, 16.5 ± 0.5 and 14.5 ± 0.2 g/100 g dry matter, respectively. Cellulose, mannan and galactan contents were higher in fiber hemp (dicotyledon) as compared to tall fescue and fiber sorghum (monocotyledons). The xylan, arabinan and total hemicellulose contents were higher in tall fescue and fiber sorghum as compared to fiber hemp. The precision of the NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method was better for polysaccharide concentration levels above 1 g/100 g dry matter. Galactan analysis offered a lower precision, due to a lower CAD response intensity to galactose as compared to the other monosaccharides. The dispersions of the results (expanded uncertainty) of the NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method were smaller as compared to the Van Soest (VS) method. In addition, the NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method was able to provide additional information on the composition of the hemicellulose (xylan, arabinan, mannan and galactan content) that is not provided by the Van Soest method. The NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method offers also the advantage of a better specificity for hemicellulose and cellulose, as compared to the NREL and Uppsala methods.