Lignocellulosic butanol production from Napier grass using semi-simultaneous saccharification fermentation

Area of Science:

• Biomass Conversion
• Bioenergy Research
• Sustainable Feedstocks

Background:

• Napier grass is a widely available and adaptable biomass feedstock.
• Efficient conversion of Napier grass to biofuels is crucial for sustainable energy production.
• Optimizing pretreatment and hydrolysis methods is key to maximizing sugar yields.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate Napier grass as a feedstock for biofuel production.
• To compare alkali and acid pretreatment methods for Napier grass.
• To optimize enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation processes for butanol and acetone production.

Main Methods:

• Compositional analysis of Napier grass.
• Alkali pretreatment (2.5wt% NaOH, 8wt% loading, 121°C, 40 min).
• Enzymatic hydrolysis (40 FPU/g-substrate) followed by semi-simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (sSSF).

Main Results:

• Alkali pretreatment was more favorable than acid pretreatment.
• Achieved an overall glucose yield of 0.82 g/g-glucose_total.
• Reached butanol and acetone concentrations of 9.45 g/L and 4.85 g/L, respectively, with a butanol yield of 0.22 g/g-sugar_{glucose+xylose}.

Conclusions:

• Napier grass is a suitable feedstock for biofuel production.
• The optimized alkali pretreatment and sSSF process achieved a 31% efficiency for butanol production.
• This study demonstrates a viable pathway for converting Napier grass into valuable biofuels.