Development of an effective pretreatment method for hemicellulose hydrolysis of sweet sorghum bagasse
Student name: Ms Jyotsna Thakur
Guide: Dr Arun Kansal
Year of completion: 2009
Host Organisation: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Jiby K Kurian
Abstract: The depleting stock of petroleum all over the world has resulted in a growing interest in alternative fuels. Ethanol blending with gasoline has proven to be a significant option to cut down the dependence on import of fossil fuels. Different feedstock with high starch and sugar content have been used in many countries for the same purpose but any crop or technology can’t be generalized for the entire world. Thus other substrates need to be looked for which also ensures energy security. Production of fuel ethanol from renewable ligno-cellulosic biomass has the potential to reduce world dependence on petroleum. This dissertation was carried under an ongoing DBT project and aimed at a technology with an effective hemicellulose hydrolysis. The feedstock chosen for the study was the bagasse of Sweet sorghum. An extensive Research and Development work is being carried out on Sweet sorghum because of few promising advantages over other crops. The work focused on pretreatment of bagasse for efficient fermentation. Three different pretreatments were done viz. Enzymatic, Biological and dilute acid treatment. The results got were then compared for reducing sugar yield and percentage hemicellulose dissolution, on the basis of certain parameters chosen. The reducing sugar and pentose sugar estimations were done using DNS and para-bromo aniline reagents respectively. The best set of all pretreatments performed was found and was concluded as an effective method with maximum reducing sugar yield. An effective pretreatment will cut down the overall cost of bioethanol production and ensure maximum fermentation giving higher yields of ethanol.
Key Words: Dilute acid treatment, Hemicellulose hydrolysis, sweet sorghum bagasse, reducing sugar
