Bioprocess Optimization in Leading Cellulosic Feedstocks Miscanthus and Switchgrass for Bioethanol Production.

With the mandate of 36 billion gallons of ethanol production by 2030 set by Renewable Fuel Standard Association (RFA) and Energy Independence Security Act (EISA), US it is important to investigate ethanol production from cellulosic energy crops. While corn ethanol production has achieved commercial limit of 15 billion gallons, the remaining deficit of 21 billion gallons of ethanol from cellulosic biomass is still in its infancy. Cellulosic Ethanol production is influenced by several factors, which include feedstock loading and enzymes loading. Increasing enzyme loading for saccharification can be quite expensive. Saccharificaion is critical to the success of cellulosic biofuel production, which determines primarily the amount of sugar released. Miscanthus giganteus and switchgrass (Panicum virigatum) are used for biofuel production. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine the optimal substrate loading and 2) enzyme loading for maximum ethanol production. Study utilized commercial Miscanthus var. Freedom and four commercial switchgrass varieties; fermentation and saccharification optimization using response surface methodology (RSM) were investigated. The preliminary results indicated that the best enzyme and substrate loading were 20 and 10 percent respectively for both feedstocks.

Abstracts:

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