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Production of bioethanol from agricultural residues and hays (wheat, barley, and triticale straws, and barley, triticale, pearl millet, and sweet sorghum hays) through a series of chemical pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation processes was investigated in this study. Composition analysis suggested that the agricultural straws and hays studied contained approximately 28.62-38.58% glucan, 11.19-20.78% xylan, and 22.01-27.57% lignin, making them good candidates for bioethanol production. Chemical pretreatment with sulfuric acid or sodium hydroxide at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0% indicated that concentration and treatment agent play a significant role during pretreatment. After 2.0% sulfuric acid pretreatment at 121°C/15 psi for 60 min, 78.10-81.27% of the xylan in untreated feedstocks was solubilized, while 75.09-84.52% of the lignin was reduced after 2.0% sodium hydroxide pretreatment under similar conditions. Enzymatic hydrolysis of chemically pretreated (2.0% NaOH or H 2 SO 4 ) solids with Celluclast 1.5 LNovozym 188 (cellobiase) enzyme combination resulted in equal or higher glucan and xylan conversion than with Spezyme® CP-xylanase combination. The glucan and xylan conversions during hydrolysis with Celluclast 1.5 L-cellobiase at 40 FPU/g glucan were 78.09 to 100.36% and 74.03 to 84.89%, respectively. Increasing the enzyme loading from 40 to 60 FPU/g glucan did not significantly increase sugar yield. The ethanol yield after fermentation of the hydrolyzate from different feedstocks with Saccharomyces cerevisiae ranged from 0.27 to 0.34 g/g glucose or 52.00-65.82% of the theoretical maximum ethanol yield.

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Switchgrass and coastal bermudagrass are promising lignocellulosic feedstocks for bioethanol production. However, pretreatment of lignocelluloses is required to improve production of fermentable sugars from enzymatic hydrolysis. Microwave‐based alkali pretreatment of switchgrass and coastal bermudagrass was investigated in this study. Pretreatments were carried out by immersing the biomass in dilute alkali reagents and exposing the slurry to microwave radiation at 250 W for residence times ranging from 5 to 20 min. Simons' stain method was used to quantify changes in biomass porosity as a result of the pretreatment. Pretreatments were evaluated based on yields of total reducing sugars, glucose, and xylose. An evaluation of different alkalis identified sodium hydroxide as the most effective alkali reagent for microwave‐based pretreatment of switchgrass and coastal bermudagrass. 82% glucose and 63% xylose yields were achieved for switchgrass and 87% glucose and 59% xylose yields were achieved for coastal bermudagrass following enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass pretreated under optimal conditions. Dielectric properties for dilute sodium hydroxide solutions were measured and compared with solid losses, lignin reduction, and reducing sugar levels in hydrolyzates. Results indicate that dielectric loss tangent of alkali solutions is a potential indicator of the severity of microwave‐based pretreatments. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2010

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