Optimización del Pretratamiento Ácido de Biomasa Lignocelulósica para la Producción de Bioetanol

Abstract

Bioethanol produced from lignocellulosic biomass has significant advantages compared to that produced from simple sugars, since this does not compete with the food industry and it is a waste. The celluloserich raw materials such as rice hulls have a complex structure that hinders the enzymatic hydrolysis due to their morphological features and their complex chemical composition. The treatment of the raw materials with dilute acid produces a high recovery of hemicelluloses in the form of monomers in the liquid fraction and a solid fraction with high concentrations of cellulose. In addition, due to the high temperatures and acidic conditions of the pretreatment, the sugars released by hydrolysis are degraded in degradation compounds. The objective of this research was to find the optimum conditions of rice husks pretreatment with dilute sulfuric acid and heat. The optimization of the studied process corresponded to the average values of acid concentration and time