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The efficiency of microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis of seaweeds for the production of ethanol was investigated and its effect on hydrolysis into reducing sugar and fermentation into ethanol evaluated as compared with those by conventional heating. A brown seaweed, Laminaria japonica (10-100g/L) was hydrolysed under dilute acidic condition (0.5N , ) with two sorts of heating: microwave irradiation for and conventional heating for 10-60min. Microwave-assisted hydrolysis was shown to be more efficient. A similar range of reducing sugar and ethanol yields as with the conventional autoclave heating procedure() was observed, but it was obvious that production of ethanol from microwave-assisted hydrolysis had a 3 times faster reaction rate leading to very short production times, lower energy consumption/loss than from the conventional heating mode, and higher biomass loading without significant reducing ethanol yield, thus microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis is a potential alternative method for more effective hydrolysis of Laminaria japonica.

In order to study the utilization of seaweeds as an alternative renewable feedstock for bioethanol production, their properties of hydrolysis and fermentation were investigated. The seaweeds were well hydrolyzed with diluted sulfuric acid. The weight loss of seaweeds reached 75-90%, but only 12-51% of them was converted into reducing sugars after the acid-hydrolysis at 130℃ for 4-6h. The yield of reducing sugars increased with increasing the hydrolysis time up to 4h and then decreased thereafter. In contrast, the ethanol yield from the hydrolysates increased with hydrolysis time except for green seaweeds maximizing at 4h. Optimal fermentation time by Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ATCC 24858) varied with seaweeds; 48h for green seaweeds, 96h for brown and red seaweeds. The ethanol yield from the hydrolysate reached 138±37mg/g-dry for green seaweeds, 258±29mg/g-dry for brown seaweeds, and 343±53mg/g-dry for red seaweeds, which correspond to approximately 1.5-4.0 times more than the theoretical yield from total reducing sugars in the hydrolysates. The results obtained indicate clearly that the non-reducing sugars or oligosaccharides dissolved in the hydrolysate played an important role in producing bioethanol. Considering the productivity and production cost of each seaweed, brown seaweeds such as Laminaria japonica and Undaria pinnatifida seem to be a promissing feedstock for bioethanol production.