Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 29, 2026

Ammonia Fiber Expansion (AFEX) Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass
Published on: April 18, 2020
Pretreatment of corn stover using low-moisture anhydrous ammonia (LMAA) process
Chang Geun Yoo1, Nhuan P Nghiem, Kevin B Hicks
1Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA.
Abstract:
A simple pretreatment method using anhydrous ammonia was developed to minimize water and ammonia inputs for cellulosic ethanol production, termed the low moisture anhydrous ammonia (LMAA) pretreatment. In this method, corn stover with 30-70% moisture was contacted with anhydrous ammonia in a reactor under nearly ambient conditions. After the ammoniation step, biomass was subjected to a simple pretreatment step at moderate temperatures (40-120°C) for 48-144 h. Pretreated biomass was saccharified and fermented without an additional washing step. With 3% glucan loading of LMAA-treated corn stover under best treatment conditions (0.1g-ammonia+1.0 g-water per g biomass, 80°C, and 84 h), simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation test resulted in 24.9 g/l (89% of theoretical ethanol yield based on glucan+xylan in corn stover).
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