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Background: Efficient cofermentation of glucose and xylose is necessary for economically feasible bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. Here, we demonstrate pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) with green liquor (GL) combined with ethanol (GL-Ethanol) by adding different GL amounts. The common Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CSC) and thermophilic S. cerevisiae (TSC) strains were used and different yeast cell mass ratios (CSC to TSC) were compared. The simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation (SSF/SSCF) process was performed by 5-20% (w/v) dry substrate (DS) solid loadings to determine optimal conditions for the co-consumption of glucose and xylose. Results: Compared to previous studies that tested fermentation of glucose using only the CSC, we obtained higher ethanol yield and concentration (92.80% and 23.22 g/L) with 1.5 mL GL/g-DS GL-Ethanol-pretreated SCB at 5% (w/v) solid loading and a CSC-to-TSC yeast cell mass ratio of 1:2 (w/w). Using 10% (w/v) solid loading under the same conditions, the ethanol concentration increased to 42.53 g/L but the ethanol yield decreased to 84.99%. In addition, an increase in the solid loading up to a certain point led to an increase in the ethanol concentration from 1.5 mL GL/g- DS-pretreated SCB. The highest ethanol concentration (68.24 g/L) was obtained with 15% (w/v) solid loading, using a CSC-to-TSC yeast cell mass ratio of 1:3 (w/w). Conclusions: GL-Ethanol pretreatment is a promising pretreatment method for improving both glucan and xylan conversion efficiencies of SCB. There was a competitive relationship between the two yeast strains, and the glucose and xylose utilization ability of the TSC was better than that of the CSC. Ethanol concentration was obviously increased at high solid loading, but the yield decreased as a result of an increase in the viscosity and inhibitor levels in the fermentation system. Finally, the SSCF of GL-Ethanol-pretreated SCB with mixed S. cerevisiae strains increased ethanol concentration and was an effective conversion process for ethanol production at high solid loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) was modified by steam explosion pretreatment at 190℃ for 10 min and 210℃ for 5 min using green liquor (GL) combined with hydrogen peroxide (GL-H2O2) and ethanol (GL-Ethanol) for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF)- based ethanol production. The results showed that 85.02% and 100% of hemicelluloses were solubilized by steam explosion pretreatment at 190℃ for 10 min and 210℃ for 5 min, respectively. Moreover, 20.08% and 73.77% of the lignin was removed through GL-H2O2 and GL-Ethanol pretreatments, respectively. The steam explosion pretreatments greatly improved the specific surface area of the SCB and led to the highest ethanol yield of 92.20% at 190℃ for 10 min and 93.19% of 210℃ for 5 min, respectively. In addition, the ethanol yield reached 72.58% for the GL-Ethanol pretreatment, and about 70% of active lignin could be recovered from the pretreatment liquid. When the GL-H2O2 pretreatment was used, the maximum ethanol yield of 20.92% was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Furfural residues (FRs) were pretreated with ethanol and a green liquor (GL) catalyst to produce fermentable sugar. Anthraquinone (AQ) was used as an auxiliary reagent to improve delignification and reduce cellulose decomposition. The results showed that 42.7% of lignin was removed and 96.5% of cellulose was recovered from substrates pretreated with 1.0 mL GL/g of dry substrate and 0.4% (w/w) AQ at 140 °C for 1 h. Compared with raw material, ethanol–GL pretreatment of FRs increased the glucose yield from 69.0% to 85.9% after 96 h hydrolysis with 18 FPU/g-cellulose for cellulase, 27 CBU/g-cellulose for β-glucosidase. The Brauner–Emmett–Teller surface area was reduced during pretreatment, which did not inhibit the enzymatic hydrolysis. Owing to the reduced surface area, the unproductive binding of cellulase to lignin was decreased, thus improving the enzymatic hydrolysis. The degree of polymerization of cellulose from FRs was too low to be a key factor for improving enzymatic hydrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acorn starch was used for ethanol production by separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) in this study. The influence of tannins on hydrolysis and fermentation was investigated using ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) to decrease the amount of tannin before SHF. The tannin was shown to have a negative role in hydrolysis and fermentation, and UAE can improve the two processes. The tannin content of acorn starch decreased from 6.19% to 1.91% with the UAE pretreatment time of 200 min. When the pretreatment time was 120 min, the glucose concentration increased from 78.08 to 98.76 g/L after 24 h of hydrolysis. The highest ethanol concentration was 42.22 g/L, which was obtained from the same pretreated acorn flour fermented for 12 h. However, the maximum ethanol yield was 88.06% of the theoretical yield, while pretreatment time was 80 min. Scanning electron microscope images indicated that protein was separated from the starch granules by UAE, as well as by the molecular weight of starch which decreased significantly based on the results from gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Furfural residues produced from the furfural industry were investigated as a substrate for lactic acid production by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). Alkaline peroxide was used for delignification of furfural residues to improve the final lactic acid concentration. The residue was treated with 1.3% to 1.7% hydrogen peroxide at 80 °C for 1 h with a substrate concentration of 3.33%. SSF of furfural residues with different delignification degrees were carried out to evaluate the effect of delignification degree on lactic acid production. Using corn hydrolysates/furfural residues as substrates, SSF with different media were carried out to investigate the effect of lignin on the interaction between enzymes and lactic acid bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria had a negative effect on cellulase, thus resulting in the reduction of enzyme activity. Lignin and nutrients slowed down the decreasing trend of enzyme activity. A higher delignification resulted in a slower fermentation rate and lower yield due to degradation products of lignin and the effect of lignin on the interaction between enzymes and lactic acid bacteria. For the purpose of lactic acid production, a moderate delignification (furfural residues with the lignin content of 14.8%) was optimum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]