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Dilute Ammonia Pretreatment of Sorghum and Its Effectiveness on Enzyme Hydrolysis and Ethanol Fermentation

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Abstract

A new pretreatment technology using dilute ammonium hydroxide was evaluated for ethanol production on sorghum. Sorghum fibers, ammonia, and water at a ratio of 1:0.14:8 were heated to 160 °C and held for 1 h under 140–160 psi pressure. Approximately, 44% lignin and 35% hemicellulose were removed during the process. Hydrolysis of untreated and dilute ammonia pretreated fibers was carried out at 10% dry solids at an enzyme concentration of 60 FPU Spezyme CP and 64 CBU Novozyme 188/g glucan. Cellulose digestibility was higher (84%) for ammonia pretreated sorghum as compared to untreated sorghum (38%). Fermentations with Saccharomyces cerevisiae D5A resulted in 24 g ethanol /100 g dry biomass for dilute ammonia pretreated sorghum and 9 g ethanol /100 g dry biomass for untreated sorghum.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the U.S. Department of Energy (Award# DE-FG36-08GO88151) for their financial support of this research project. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Lee Madsen and Chardcie Verret from the Audubon Sugar Institute at Louisiana State University AgCenter for their analytical support and Margaret C. Henk from the Department of Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University for SEM sample preparation. Gratitude is also extended to Dr. Pitman at the LSU AgCenter Hill Farm Research Station (Homer, LA) for providing the biomass material.

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  1. Audubon Sugar Institute, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, 3845 Hwy 75 St., Gabriel, LA, 70776, USA

    Deepti A. Salvi, Giovanna M. Aita, Diana Robert & Victor Bazan

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  1. Deepti A. Salvi
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  2. Giovanna M. Aita
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Correspondence to Giovanna M. Aita.

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Salvi, D.A., Aita, G.M., Robert, D. et al. Dilute Ammonia Pretreatment of Sorghum and Its Effectiveness on Enzyme Hydrolysis and Ethanol Fermentation. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 161, 67–74 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-010-8932-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-010-8932-1

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