Furfural residue rich in cellulose was considered as a potential substrate for ethanol production in biorefinery process. After soaking in 80 �C water under stirring for 1 h, inhibitory components in the furfural residue were removed and the bioconversion of the furfural residue reached 75.7% at the enzyme dosage as low as 5 FPU/g substrate. The concentration of ethanol concentration was 11.8 g/L in the broth during simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). In order to improve the digestibility of cellulose and ethanol yield, the residue was submitted to delignification with hydrogen peroxide under alkaline condition at different chemical dosages (1 to 2%) and temperatures (100 to 180 �C). Results indicated that increasing the dosage of hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide from 1 to 2% effectively enhanced the digestibility of cellulose. Delignification process conducted at 120 �C offered an optimal bionconversion (86.1%) of the obtained substrate. Although a maximum ethanol concentration was achieved by SSF from the substrate treated at 180 �C, the bioconversion rate was 76.3% since the cellulose content reached 66.0% in the substrate.

Enhanced bioconversion of furfural residue to ethanol by alkaline hydrogen peroxide delignification

245th National Meeting (2013)

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