Enhancement of bio-ethanol production potential of wheat straw by reducing furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF)

Abstract

The present study intended to enhance the bioethanol production potential of wheat straw by reducing furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. The combination of 180 °C and 2% H2SO4 was optimized for pretreatment of wheat straw, which resulted significantly higher total soluble sugar. The maximum amount of furfural and HMF were observed when wheat straw pretreated at 180 to 220 °C, using 4% (v/v) dilute sulfuric acid. Amendment of pretreated acid hydrolysate using activated charcoal (5%, w/v) reduced up to 84.01% furfural and up to 76.42% HMF concentration in filtrate. The maximum ethanol yield of 5.29% (v/v) was obtained from charcoal amended acid hydrolysate, equivalent to 87.9% theoretical yield. Ethanol yield coefficient (Yps) was found to be 0.44 g ethanol g−1 sugar utilized. These results indicate that activated charcoal treated acid hydrolysate will be effective among the available technologies and could make lignocellulosic biomass-based ethanol production process economically viable by maximizing ethanol yield.