Biotech Updates

Researchers Produce Cellulosic Ethanol from Acetone/Water Oxidized Pretreated Beech Wood

March 1, 2017
https://biotechnologyforbiofuels.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13068-017-0737-9

Lignocellulosic biomass is an abundant and inexpensive resource for biofuel production. However, pretreatment is important to allow efficient enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose. Wet oxidation of biomass, which uses hot acetone, water, and oxygen, was found to be a potential pretreatment method for plant biomass. The resulting cellulose-rich fraction will have the potential to be used for cost-competing production of bioethanol. The team of Constantinos Katsimpouras of the National Technical University of Athens aimed to test the feasibility of this pretreatment method in beech wood.

The team pretreated beech wood residual biomass using acetone/water oxidation process for the production of cellulosic ethanol. The effect of pressure, reaction time, temperature, and acetone-to-water ratio on the final composition of the pretreated samples were then evaluated. The team also determined the optimal pretreatment conditions for maximum bioethanol production. 

The optimization of the pretreatment allowed efficient utilization of beech wood residual biomass for the production of cellulosic ethanol. The process also obtained lignin, which can be upgraded towards high-added-value chemicals.