Pretreatment, Proper Harvest Time Boost Ethanol From Switchgrass
September 2, 2011| |
Purdue University researcher Youngmi Kim and distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering Michael Ladisch investigated the effects of location, harvest time and pretreatment step to optimize ethanol yield from switchgrass. The results published in the journal Bioresource Technology showed that switchgrass harvested in spring had more cellulose, but also contain more lignin. Lignin is a rigid substance of plant cell walls that limit ethanol yield from cellulosic materials.
By cooking switchgrass under pressure for about 10 minutes, the hemicellulose which binds cellulose and lignin in the plant is dissolved. It improved the conversion of glucose to ethanol from 10 to 90 percent. This added feature in biofuel generation would make the use of switchgrass more advantageous than the use of corn, since fall switchgrass given a pretreatment and fermentation with special yeast shows potential to give as much as 800-1,000 gallons of ethanol per acre per year, compared to corn's 500-600 gallons per acre per year.
Learn more about this article at http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2011/110831LadischSwitchgrass.html
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