As production of ethanol climbs, nonood feedstocks need to be utilized such as lignocellulosic biomass. The sugars present in bio-oil produced by fast pyrolysis can potentially be fermented by microbial organisms to produce cellulosic ethanol. This study shows the potential for microbial digestion of the aqueous fraction of bio-oil in an enrichment medium to consume glucose and produce ethanol. In addition to glucose, inhibitors such as furans and phenols are present in the bio-oil. A pure glucose enrichment medium of 20 g/L was used as a standard to compare with glucose and aqueous fraction mixtures for digestion. 30% by volume of aqueous fraction in media was the most that could be consumed and yielded 0.4 g of ethanol per g of glucose. Inhibitor removal tests by extraction, activated carbon, air stripping, and microbial means were also mildly successful. Ethanol could potentially be produced for $14 per gallon using these methods.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-2939 |
| Date | 06 August 2011 |
| Creators | Livingston, Darrell Rex, Jr |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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