Process performance evaluation of different chemical pretreatments of lignocellulosic biomass for bioethanol production.

So far, a large number of pretreatment methods have garnered significant attention aimed only at optimizing the reducing sugar and bioethanol yields. This study however, carried out pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) using hydrothermal, organosolv, alkaline and alkaline peroxide pretreatment methods comparing their process performance. An evaluation of the energy consumption parameter during pretreatment showed lowest energy use (0.619 kWh/kg) during 5% alkaline peroxide pretreatment. The energy efficiency (0.162 kg bioethanol/kWh) was thus highest whereas the waste generation was lowest (38.895 kg waste/kg bioethanol) during alkaline peroxide pretreatment process. The solid biomass was utilized for enzymatic saccharification and bioethanol fermentation using SSF. Maximum enzyme efficiency and bioethanol yields achieved were 85.02% and 0.101 kg bioethanol/kg biomass respectively. Process performance evaluation can be projected to open up a new avenue for practical implementations of life cycle analysis (LCA) and techno-economic assessment aiding the circular bio-economy approach. [Display omitted] • Chemical pretreatment technologies investigated for process performance evaluation. • Energy efficiency and waste generation used to evaluate process performance. • 0.162 kg bioethanol/kWh- energy efficiency during alkaline peroxide pretreatment. • Also, lowest waste generation (38.895 kg waste/kg bioethanol) was recorded. • NaOH and H 2 O 2 at 5% (w/w) chemical concentration was most effective pretreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]