Production of bioethanol from pre-treated cotton fabrics and waste cotton materials

This study highlights the potential of cotton fabric as a promising feedstock for the production of bioethanol as renewable biofuel. The effect of corona pre-treatment of non-mercerized and mercerized cotton fabrics on glucose and ethanol yield is discussed. Fermentation kinetics for ethanol production and the basic process parameters were assessed and compared. Corona pre-treatment of cotton fabrics led to an increase in the glucose yield (compared to control sample) during enzymatic hydrolysis, and consequently the ethanol yield during fermentation by yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus. The system with mercerized cotton fabric was found to be superior obtaining an ethanol productivity of 0.900g/Lh and ethanol yield of 0.94g/g (based on glucose) after 6h of fermentation time. The similar results were obtained during processing of waste cotton materials performed under the same process conditions. The obtained results showed that cotton fabric could become an alternative feedstock for the bioethanol production. For potential industrial implementation the waste mercerized cotton scraps would be the materials of choice.