Enhanced ethanol production using hydrophobic resin detoxified Pine forest litter hydrolysate and integrated fermentation process development supplementing molasses

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2024-10, Vol.31 (46), p.57386-57396
• Main Authors: Pandey, Ajay Kumar, Negi, Sangeeta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; bioethanol; Biofuels; Biomass; Biorefineries; biorefining; Coniferous forests; Dilution; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; enzymes; Ethanol; Ethanol - metabolism; ethanol production; experimental design; feedstocks; Fermentation; forest litter; Forests; Furfural; Gasoline; Hydrolysates; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Hydrophobicity; Hydroxymethylfurfural; infrastructure; Lignocellulose; Litter; Molasses; phenolic compounds; Phenols; Pinus; polysorbates; Refineries; Resins; Response surface methodology; Saccharification; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism; Sugar; sugars; Syrups & sweeteners; Trends in Environmental and Industrial Biotechnology; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 1614-7499; 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-30185-5

Globally escalating ethanol demand necessitates the use of hybrid technologies integrating first- and second-generation biofuel feedstocks for achieving the futuristic targets of gasoline replacement with bioethanol. In present study, an optimized two-step sequential pre-treatment (first dilute alkali, then dilute acid) of Pine forest litter (PFL) was developed. Furthermore, the saccharification of pre-treated PFL was optimized through Response Surface Methodology using Box-Behnken Design, wherein 0.558 g/g of reducing sugar was released under the optimized conditions (12.5% w/v of biomass loading, 10 FPU/g of PFL enzyme loading, 0.15% v/v Tween-80 and 48 h incubation time). Moreover, during hydrolysate fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCIM 3288 strain, 22.51 ± 1.02 g/L ethanol was produced. Remarkably, hydrophobic resin (XAD-4) treatment of PFL hydrolysate, significantly removed inhibitors (Furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and phenolics) and increased ethanol production to 27.38 ± 1.18 g/L. Furthermore, during fermentation of molasses supplemented PFL hydrolysate (total initial sugar: 100 ± 3.27 g/L), a maximum of 46.02 ± 2.08 g/L ethanol was produced with 0.482 g/g yield and 1.92 g/l/h productivity. These findings indicated that the integration of molasses to lignocellulosic hydrolysate, would be a promising hybrid technology for industrial ethanol production within existing bio-refinery infrastructure.