(374i) Detoxification of Corn Stover Hydrolysate with a New Method

Extreme conditions during the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass lead to the generation of various compounds besides sugars. These compounds inhibit the fermentation of ethanol and hence need to be removed prior to fermentation. In this work we have used a new method based on surfactants to detoxify the hydrolysate. Two non-ionic copolymers (L62D and L62LF) were used in the study. Both the surfactants removed more than 90% of phenolic compounds and 20% of HMF, acetic acid and furfural from the aqueous solution. Simulated hydrolysate containing seven inhibitors was detoxified with 1% and 5% of surfactant (L62D and L62LF). Complete fermentation of detoxified hydrolysate was achieved whereas untreated hydrolysate showed no ethanol production. Similarly, for corn stover hydrolysate, productivity doubled after detoxifying the hydrolysate. Thus, in both the cases (simulated hydrolysate and corn stover hydrolysate) detoxification using surfactant was successful.