Effective of Microwave-KOH Pretreatment on Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Bamboo.docVIP

Journal of Sustainable Bioenergy Systems, 2012, 2, 104-107 /10.4236/jsbs.2012.24015 Published Online December 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jsbs) Effective of Microwave-KOH Pretreatment on Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Bamboo Zhiqiang Li , Zehui Jiang , Benhua Fei , Yan Yu , Zhiyong Cai 1 1* 1 1 2 1 International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan, Beijing, China Forest Products Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, Madison, USA Email: lizq@, jiangzehui@, zcai@fs.fed.us 2 * Received October 1, 2012; revised November 3, 2012; accepted November 19, 2012 ABSTRACT Bamboo, with its advantages of fast growth, short renovation, easy propagation and rich in cellulose and hemicellulose, is a potential feedstock for bioethanol or other biofuels production. The objective of this study was to examine the fea- sibility of microwave assistant KOH pretreatments to enhance enzymatic hydrolysis of bamboo. Pretreatment was car- ried out by immersing the bamboo in KOH (12% and 8% w/w bamboo) solutions and exposing the slurry to microwave radiation power of 400 W for 30min. Chemical composition of the pretreated substrates and spent liquor was analyzed. Pretreated substrates were enzymatic hydrolyzed, and glucose and xylose in the hydrolysate were analyzed. The results showed that the pretreated substrate with microwave assisted KOH had significantly higher sugar yield than the un- treated samples. The fermentation inhibitors formic acid, furfural, HMF and levulinic acid were much lower than acid pretreatment reported. Keywords: Bamboo, Microwave-KOH Pretreatment, Chemical Pretreatment, Enzymatic Hydrolysis, Bioethanol Production 1. Introduction Recently, microwave-assisted alkali/acid/H O pretreat- 2 2 ment of rice and wheat straw was investigated by Zhu et al. [9]. To our knowledge, the microwave-assisted alkali pretreatment of bam