Acid Pre-Treatment and Enzymatic Saccharification of Sorghum Stalk for Cellulosic Ethanol Production, Petroleum Technology Development

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of process variables during dilute acid pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of sorghum stalk for cellulosic ethanol production. The sorghum stalk was pre-treated at different reaction temperature (160 – 220 ), dilute acid concentration (1 – 3 %v/v), solid/liquid ratio (0.06 – 0.15 g/ml) and time (5 – 15 mins). This was followed by fermentation to production and characterization of ethanol. Optimum conditions for pretreatment were reaction temperature of 210 , acid concentration of 3 % v/v, solid/liquid ratio of 0.1 g/ml and a reaction time of 10 mins. Maximum percentage reducing sugar at this condition was 14 %. The result of ethanol characterization revealed that the ethanol production meets the ASTM standard. Hence, we conclude and recommend that sorghum stalk is a potential feedstock for the production of bioethanol.