Biochemical Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass from Date Palm of Phoenix dactylifera L. into Ethanol Production

Cellulosic fibers from date palm are among the most promising lignocellulose feedstock for biorefinery purposes. The world production is between 1.9 and 2.4 million t/year. Initially, a pretreatment with dilute-sulphuric acid of these fibers was performed using a response surface methodology, with temperature and process time as factors. The aim is to produce bioethanol from young and old fibers from date palm, Phoenix dactylifera L. Optimal thermochemical pretreatment conditions for both fibers palms were 220 °C in hydrothermal conditions (without acid); in these conditions pretreated young fibers presented a maximum content in holocelluloses of 45.18% and old fibers 61.97%. Subsequently, during the enzymatic hydrolysis a maximum yield of total reducing sugars (TRS) was reached, 46.32 g/100 g for pretreated dry young fibers and 48.54 g/100 g for pretreated dry old fibers. After enzymatic saccharification, hydrolysates were fermented by Pachysolen tannophilus (ATCC 32691) to ethanol, reaching yields (YE/TRS) of 37.94 g ethanol/100 g of TRS for young fibers and 35.84 g ethanol/100 g of TRS for old fibers. Globally, considering the full process, in the fermentation of the hydrolysates, a yield (YE) of 10.64 g ethanol/100 g of dry young fibers and 10.88 g ethanol/100 g of dry old fibers was reached.