Pyrochars from bioenergy residue as novel bio-adsorbents for lignocellulosic hydrolysate detoxification.

The robust supramolecular structure of biomass often requires severe pretreatments conditions to produce soluble sugars. Nonetheless, these processes generate some inhibitory compounds (i.e. furans compounds and aliphatic acids) deriving mainly from sugars degradation. To avoid the inhibition of the biological process and to obtain satisfactory sugars conversion level into biofuels, a detoxification step is required. This study investigates the use of two pyrochars derived from solid anaerobic digestates for the detoxification of lignocellulosic hydrolysates. At a pyrochar concentration of 40gL(-1), more than 94% of 5-HMF and 99% of furfural were removed in the synthetic medium after 24h of contact time, whereas sugars concentration remained unchanged. Furfural was adsorbed faster than 5-HMF by both pyrochars and totally removed after 3h of contact. Finally, the two pyrochars were found efficient in the detoxification of corn stalks and Douglas fir wood chips hydrolysates without affecting the soluble sugars concentrations.

One-Pot dry chemo-mechanical deconstruction for bioethanol production from sugarcane bagasse.

The aim of this study was the application of an innovative dry chemo-mechanical pretreatment using different mechanical stresses to produce bioethanol from sugarcane bagasse (SB). The effect of different milling methods on physicochemical composition, enzymatic hydrolysis, bioethanol production and energy efficiency was also evaluated. SB was pretreated with NaOH and H3PO4 at high materials concentration (5 kg/L). Results indicate that vibratory milling (VBM) was more effective in the reduction of particles size and cellulose crystallinity compared to centrifugal (CM) and ball (BM) milling. NaOH pretreatment coupling to BM and VBM was preferred to enhance glucose yields and bioethanol production, while CM consumed less energy compared to BM and VBM. Moreover, the highest energy efficiency (η=0.116 kg glucose/kWh) was obtained with NaOH-CM. Therefore, the combination of dry NaOH and CM appears the most suitable and interesting pretreatment for the production of bioethanol from SB.