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Title :

Traditional Cellulosic Biomass Conversion to Ethanol Based on Concentrated Acid Pretreatment Followed by Hydrolysis and Fermentation

Description :

Three steps in the process are (1) size reduction and thermochemical pretreatment of raw cellulosic biomass to make cellulose polymers more accessible to enzymatic breakdown and free up hemicellulosic sugars (blue boxes on left); (2)   production and application of special enzyme preparations (cellulases) that hydrolyze plant cell-wall polysaccharides, producing a mixture of simple sugars (green boxes); and (3) fermentation, mediated by bacteria or yeast, to convert these sugars to ethanol and other coproducts (yellow diamonds). Recent research and development has reduced dramatically the cost of enzymes and has improved fermentation strains to enable simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF, green boxes surrounded by orange), in which hydrolysis of cellulose and fermentation of glucose are combined in one step. Cellulosic biomass research is targeting these steps to simplify and increase the yield of biomass production and processing.

Citation :

U.S. DOE. 2006. Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol: A Joint Research Agenda, DOE/SC/EE-0095, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/biofuels/.

Credit or Source :

Adapted from M. Himmel and J. Sheehan, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Medium Res :

Medium-Resolution Image

Hi Res :

High-Resolution Image


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