ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS OF CORN STOVER PRETREATED BY COMBINED DILUTE ALKALINE TREATMENT AND HOMOGENIZATION

摘要

Corn stover, the most abundant agricultural residue in the U.S., is a potential feedstock for production of bioethanol because of its high content of carbohydrates, but an efficient pretreatment is required prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. In this study, a combination of NaOH treatment and homogenization was used as a pretreatment to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stover. The combined pretreatment increased the enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stover five times compared to the control. The effectiveness of such pretreatment was found to be a function of NaOH concentration and particle size. Within the NaOH concentration range of 0.1 to 1.0 N, best performance of this combined pretreatment was achieved at 0.3 N NaOH. There is a significant cross effect of homogenization and NaOH treatment. Among the three particle sizes tested (the particle size was not directly measured; it passed through screens with openings of 2 mm, 0.707 mm, and 0.25 mm respectively), 2 mm was found to maximize the economic benefit of the pretreatment