Acid Hydrolysis of Lignocellulosic Materials for The Production of Second Generation Ethanol
Abstract Brazil is one of the countries with the largest agricultural production in the world. Therefore, it is capable of generating large amounts of agro-industrial waste that can be used as biomass for the production of biofuels. Second generation ethanol is a renewable energy alternative, capable of replacing fossil fuels. Within this context, the objective of the present work was to study the effect of diluted acid hydrolysis in different types of lignocellulosic residues and the consequent production of 2G ethanol from these hydrolysates using different fermenting microorganisms. The acid concentration that released the highest content of fermentable sugars from the acid hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials was 5.0% of sulfuric acid and the contact time with the biomass was 15 min. while heating in autoclave. The material that showed the highest sugar release after acid hydrolysis was cassava residues, with 131.09 g.L− 1 of reducing sugars. The fermentations were carried out with microorganisms alone and also in consortium. The largest production of 2G ethanol was from the hydrolyzate of soybean hulls, of 47.70 g.L− 1 of ethanol by the consortium of Zymomonasmobilis and Candida tropicalis, during 8 h of fermentation and showed productivity of 5.96 g.L− 1.h− 1.