Detoxification and concentration of corn stover hydrolysate and its fermentation for ethanol production

doi:10.1007/s11705-018-1714-y

Front. Chem. Sci. Eng.

2019, Vol. 13

Issue (1) : 140-151 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-018-1714-y

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Detoxification and concentration of corn stover hydrolysate and its fermentation for ethanol production

Qing Li¹, Yingjie Qin^1,²(

), Yunfei Liu¹, Jianjun Liu¹, Qing Liu¹, Pingli Li¹, Liqiang Liu²

¹. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
². Chembrane Engineering & Technology, Inc., Tianjin 300308, China

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Abstract

Environmental and energy concerns have increased interest in renewable energy sources, particularly biofuels. Thus the fermentation of glucose from sulfuric acid-hydrolyzed corn stover for the production of bioethanol has been explored using a combined acid retardation and continuous-effect membrane distillation treatment process. This process resulted in the separation of the sugars and acids from the acid-catalyzed hydrolysate, the removal of most of the fermentation inhibitors from the hydrolysate and the concentration of the detoxified hydrolysate. The recovery rate of glucose from the sugar-acid mixture using acid retardation was greater than 99.12% and the sulfuric acid was completely recovered from the hydrolysate. When the treated corn stover hydrolysate, containing 100 g/L glucose, was used as a carbon source, 43.06 g/L of ethanol was produced with a productivity of 1.79 g/(L∙h) and a yield of 86.31%. In the control experiment, where glucose was used as the carbon source these values were 1.97 g/(L∙h) and 93.10% respectively. Thus the integration of acid retardation and a continuous-effect membrane distillation process are effective for the production of fuel ethanol from corn stover.

Keywords corn stover hydrolysate acid retardation continuous-effect membrane distillation ethanol fermentation

Corresponding Author(s): Yingjie Qin

Just Accepted Date: 02 March 2018 Online First Date: 22 May 2018 Issue Date: 25 February 2019

Cite this article:

Qing Li,Yingjie Qin,Yunfei Liu, et al. Detoxification and concentration of corn stover hydrolysate and its fermentation for ethanol production[J]. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng., 2019, 13(1): 140-151.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/10.1007/s11705-018-1714-y
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/Y2019/V13/I1/140

Fig.1 The schematic for converting corn stover to bioethanol and other chemicals

Fig.2 Apparatus for continuous-effect membrane distillation

Tab.1 Sugar-acid separation performance of CSH and GSS by acid retardation

Fig.3 Sugar-acid separation by acid retardation: (a) CSH; (b) GSS

Tab.2 Compositions of non-detoxified CSH and sugar eluent after acid retardation and concentrated sugar solution after CEMD

Fig.4 Variation of J, GOR, R_g, and glucose concentration during CEMD for concentrating sugar eluent. Experiment conditions: T_c,i = 35 °C, T_h,i = 98 °C, F_f = 25 L/h

Fig.5 Variation of J, GOR, and sulfuric acid concentration during CEMD for concentrating acid eluent. Experiment conditions: T_c,i = 35 °C, T_h,i = 98 °C, F_f = 25 L/h

Tab.3 Concentration of inhibitors in acid eluent, concentrated acid solution and highly concentrated acid solution

Fig.6 (a) Glucose concentration; (b) ethanol yield; (c) ethanol concentration; and (d) ethanol productivity as a function of time for various initial glucose concentrations. Fermentation conditions: temperature, 30 °C; agitation rate, 150 r/min; initial pH, 5.0; inoculum size, 10%

Fig.7 Ethanol concentration, productivity, yield, and glucose utilization rate for a 24-h fermentation with different: (a) temperature, (b) agitation rate, (c) initial pH, and (d) inoculum size. Fermentation conditions: initial glucose concentration, 100 g/L; temperature, 30 °C; agitation rate, 150 r/min; initial pH, 5.0; inoculum size, 10%

Tab.4 Orthogonal design of ethanol fermentation conditions

Tab.5 Fermentation of detoxified and concentrated CSH using Saccharomyces cerevisiae CICC 1308

Fig.8 Ethanol concentration, productivity, yield and glucose concentration for ethanol fermentation of: (a) glucose, (b) hydrolysate. Fermentation conditions: initial glucose concentration, 100 g/L; temperature, 30 °C; agitation rate, 175 r/min; initial pH, 5.0; inoculum size, 10%

Tab.6 Ethanol produced from different types of substrates by various microorganisms

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