Alcohol Production from Pre-treated Maize and Paddy Lignocellulose Biomass in a Fabricated Unit

Abstract

An alcohol production unit was fabricated to handle 5 kg biomass per batch of paddy straw or maize stalk hydrolysis and fermentation. Various lignocellulose treatments were repeated from a previously reported study on paddy straw to compare it to that of maize stalk as a substrate biomass in a fabricated unit [1]. The pre-treatments to these lignocellulosic biomasses from maize stalk (MS) and paddy straw (MS) were compared after their size reduction and stepwise treatment(s) with strong alkali solution. The energy consumed on size reduction of maize stalk (MS) was 35% less compared to that consumed on paddy straw (PS). On further pre-treatment to de-lignify the biomass, after its size reduction, thermochemical treatment with alkali NaOH solution 0.5 N (in the ratio of 1:8, in NaOH solution for 1 h at 121°C) increased cellulose content availability for the process in MS and PS. These pre-treatments increased cellulose content availability from 29.4 to 73.3% and from 30.3 to 59.8% in MS and PS respectively. Cellulase enzyme was used as part of the process to breakdown the celluloses for making sugars available for alcohol production by fermentation. The total reducing sugars (monomers) obtained after cellulase treatment in MS and PS were 68.8 and 54.1% (w/w) respectively. Using a fabricated laboratory-scale (5 l) unit for fermentation, about 80% of the alcohol was produced from pre-treated MS within 40–42 h and in 48–50 h in case of pre-treated PS fermentation. The alcohol yield (in absolute terms) was 150–158 g/kg from the pre-treated maize stalk and 86–95 g/kg from the pre-treated paddy straw.

Keywords: Alcohol production, maize stalk, paddy straw, cellulase enzyme, hydrolysis, fermentation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Cite this Article

Sunita Singh, Panna Lal Singh, Pandey KC. Alcohol Production from Pre-treated Maize and Paddy Lignocellulose Biomass in a Fabricated Unit. Research & Reviews: Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology. 2017; 6(2): 1–10p.