Understanding the mechanisms of cooperative physico-chemical treatment and mechanical disintegration of biomass as a route for enhancing enzyme saccharification

A novel chemico-kinetic disintegration model has been applied to study the cooperative relationship between physico-chemical treatment and supplementary wet-state milling of biomass, as an efficient process route to achieve high enzyme accessibility. Wheat straw, Miscanthus and short-rotation willow were studied as three contrasting biomass species, which were subjected to controlled hydrothermal pretreatment using a microwave reactor, followed by controlled wet-state ball-milling. Comparative particle disintegration behaviour and related enzyme digestibilities have been interpreted on the basis of model parameters and with evaluation of textural and chemical differences in tissue structures, aided by the application of specific material characterisation techniques. Supplementary milling led to a 1.3×, 1.6× and 3× enhancement in glucose saccharification yield after 24 h for straw, Miscanthus and willow, respectively, following a standardised 10-min hydrothermal treatment, with corresponding milling energy savings of 98, 97 and 91% predicted from the model, compared to the unmilled case. The results confirm the viability of pretreatment combined with supplementary wet-milling as an efficient process route. The results will be valuable in understanding the key parameters for process design and optimisation and also the key phenotypical parameters for feedstock breeding and selection for highest saccharification yield

Utilization of Delignified Sawdust as Raw Material of Biogas Production

Biogas is one alternative to replace the irreplaceable energy source that has begun to diminish its existence. The raw materials for biogas manufacture are renewable biomass, usually using plantation waste, agriculture, and livestock. Using biogas can also reduce environmental pollution. One of the agricultural waste that has great potential to become the raw material of biogas is teak sawdust. Wood processing industry in Indonesia quite a lot, but wood has a high lignosesluosa content, so it needs the right method to process it. With the delignification of lignin levels on teak sawdust will decrease. Wood sawdust is soaked using NaOH for 1, 2, 3, and 4 days with 4% w / v concentration. The lowest lignin and hemicellulose content was 25.79% and 87.9% in pretreatment for 4 days, while the highest cellulose level was 57, 34%. The accumulated volume of biogas at 1 day pretreatment, ie 709 ml / g TS. Gcms shows the enlarged peak area of methanamine, N-methyl from before pretreatment. The fastest biogas formation (λ) in 4 days pretreatment, 1.60403 days and the largest constant A and U variables at 1 day were 914.5903 ml / g TS and 34.59765 ml / g TS