Abstract
Acid hydrolysis is a simple and direct way to hydrolyze polysaccharides in biomass into fermentable sugars. To produce fermentable sugars effectively and economically for fuel ethanol, we have investigated the hydrolysis of Enteromorpha using acids that are typically used to hydrolyze biomass: H2SO4, HCl, H3PO4 and C4H4O4 (maleic acid). 5%(w/w) Enteromorpha biomass was treated for different times (30, 60, and 90 min) and with different acid concentrations (0.6, 1.0, 1.4, 1.8, and 2.2%, w/w) at 121°C. H2SO4 was the most effective acid in this experiment. We then analyzed the hydrolysis process in H2SO4 in detail using high performance liquid chromatography. At a sulfuric acid concentration of 1.8% and treatment time of 60 min, the yield of ethanol fermentable sugars (glucose and xylose) was high, (230.5 mg/g dry biomass, comprising 175.2 mg/g glucose and 55.3 mg/g xylose), with 48.6% of total reducing sugars being ethanol fermentable. Therefore, Enteromorpha could be a good candidate for production of fuel ethanol. In future work, the effects of temperature and biomass concentration on hydrolysis, and also the fermentation of the hydrolysates to ethanol fuel should be focused on.
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Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (No. 2009AA10Z106), the Major State Basic Research Development Program (No. 2011CB200902), the CAS International Innovation Partnership Program: Typical Environmental Process and Effects on Resources in Coastal Zone Area, the National Key Technology Research and Development Program (No. 2008BAC49B01), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 40876082, 30870247), Outstanding Young Scholar Fellowship of Shandong Province (No. JQ200914), and the Science and Technology Project of Qingdao City (No. 09-1-3-59-jch).
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Feng, D., Liu, H., Li, F. et al. Optimization of dilute acid hydrolysis of Enteromorpha . Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 29, 1243–1248 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-011-0298-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-011-0298-x