No abstract

In this work, mechanochemical pretreatment of Bambusa vulgaris is evaluated for waste‐free production of renewable sugars for subsequent fermentation. After a 60 min mechanochemical pretreatment followed by enzyme hydrolysis at 50 °C, 62% of the available carbohydrate can be recovered as fermentable sugars, primarily in the form of glucose and xylose. Structural and chemical analysis finds that mechanochemical pretreatment increases accessible surface area and amorphizes the crystalline cellulose present in bamboo, both of which increase reactivity. The experimental results are then used for a systems‐level analysis of ethanol production in Nigeria. The energy required for mechanochemical pretreatment is estimated to be 0.5–5.6 MJ per kg of bamboo; this energy can be provided by solar power, while still satisfying existing needs for stationary power. Ethanol production on marginal land alone is projected to be sufficient to replace nearly 80% of Nigeria's current gasoline usage while reserving sufficient land area for solar power generation to meet current electricity needs, meaning that bamboo cultivation followed by mechanochemical pretreatment can play an important role for utilizing locally available resources without generation of new chemical wastes.

Low- and middle-income countries have tremendous potential for renewable energy production, including production of renewable carbon from locally prolific crops. In this work, bamboo endemic to West Africa (Bambusa vulgaris) was studied as a feedstock for the production of renewable sugars as the gateway to the local production of biofuels and bio-based chemical products. The effectiveness of delignification and amorphization pretreatments was evaluated, with the observation that quantitative (97 ± 4%) sugar yields could be obtained with a rapid initial hydrolysis rate (82 ± 4 mg g−1 h−1) but only when amorphization was performed following delignification. Experimental measurements and further characterization using 13C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) helped establish the importance of amorphization and delignification and explained why the order of these treatments determined their effectiveness. The economics of the bamboo-based process were compared with those projected for corn stover, selected as a well-studied benchmark crop. Because of the higher bamboo growth rate compared with corn stover and the effectiveness of the pretreatment, the projected net present value (NPV) of the bamboo biorefinery was positive ($190 MM, U.S.), whereas the corn biorefinery projected to negative NPV (−$430 MM, U.S.). A socially sustainable framework for deployment of a bamboo biorefinery in a low- or middle-income economy was then proposed, guided by the principle of local ownership and stakeholder buy-in. The findings presented here motivate further investment in development of bamboo cultivation and conversion to sugars as a rapid route to decarbonization of low- and middle-income economies.