Sequential pretreatment of wheat straw with H2O2 and NaClO2 for enhanced bioethanol production /

Abstract

Wheat straw is extensively used for the bioethanol production because of its zero-value waste and clean energy source. But still, its recalcitrant structure is a major hurdle to the economical bioethanol production. By keeping in view, this study might focus on the chemical along with biological pretreatments to valorize the wheat straw. Herein, the combination of acidic sodium chlorite (NaClO2) and alkaline hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) pretreatment was used in the presence of bacillus specie that resulted in the formation of less inhibitory compounds and increased degradation of complex lignin structure. For the bioethanol production, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) method was carried out by treating biomass 10g/L at different time concentrations of 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hrs and results were analyzed by different characterization techniques e.g., high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), scanning electron microscope (SEM). This study also provides the comparative analysis of acidic sodium chlorite, alkaline hydrogen peroxide and their combination using bacillus specie for the bioethanol production The maximum bioethanol production rate of 44 g/L and bioethanol yield of 1.26 g/kg was achieved by combined pretreatment of acidic sodium chlorite and alkaline hydrogen peroxide in the presence of bacillus specie as compared with other pretreatments methods as mentioned above. The SEM images confirmed the enhanced degradation of lignocellulosic structure by different pretreatment methods resulted in the enhanced production of bioethanol. This study paved the root to further use the combined pretreatment method in different industrial applications.