- Title
- Synthesis of bioethanol from lignocellulosic materials: A focus on grass and waste paper as raw materials
- Creator
- Vala, Mavula Kikwe
- Subject
- Ethanol as fuel
- Subject
- Biomass energy
- Subject
- Lignocellulose -- Biotechnology
- Date Issued
- 2009-12
- Date
- 2009-12
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24499
- Identifier
- vital:63049
- Description
- Biofuels are currently recognized as not only a necessity, but an inevitable pathway to secure the planet future energy needs. Food crops have been used (so far) as the biomass for bioethanol and biodiesel production. This has increased concerns over food security and led to the search for diversification and alternative feedstocks for biofuel production. The use of lignocellulosic materials, the most abundant, low cost and easy feedstock to harvest for bioethanol purpose, involves challenging production processes. Several approaches have been used to facilitate the breakdown of the biopolymer structure to produce fermentable sugars that can be converted to ethanol. Most of the approaches have used high temperatures and pressures and have often led to the production of inhibitors of fermentation. In this study, lignocellulosic materials from grass and newsprint were investigated as sources of biomass for bioethanol production using a chemical route (sulfuric acid hydrolysis) which made use of temperatures below 100°C at normal atmospheric pressure. Fermentation of toxic lignocellulosic hydrolyzates was possible after the development of a method for inhibitors removal. The method used treated wood chips as a stationary phase in a chromatographic column to remove inhibitors. This method is expected to be extended to applications such as in municipal wastewater treatment. Sugar yields of 22.26 and 8.9 g/L of hydrolyzate; and an ethanol yield of 184.5 and 130.4 mg/mL of must were achieved for 5g grass and newsprint respectively using optimum conditions of 2percent H2SO4 at 97.5°C for grass and 0.5percent H2SO4 at 97.5°C for newsprint during the hydrolysis process. Pure cellulose was used as a control for the biomass where 254.1 g/L of fermentable sugars were recovered from soluble cellulose and the yield of ethanol was 201.8 mg/mL.
- Description
- Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2009
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (100 leaves)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Science and Agriculture
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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UFH Department of Chemistry
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Vala (M Sc) Computer Sc.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |