Pulverization and Mild Alkaline Treatment of Bamboo for the Production of Ethanol at High Concentrations

Abstract

Bamboo was subjected to pulverization and mild alkaline treatment to produce bioethanol at a concentration higher than 40g/L. Pulverized bamboo with a particle size of 50µm was treated with mild alkali by soaking in NaOH solution at room temperature and then subjected to enzymatic saccharification using commercial cellulase. Pulverized bamboo effectively facilitated the alkaline treatment and subsequent enzymatic saccharification. Ethanol was produced from bamboo powder treated with 10％ NaOH solution via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. The ethanol concentration reached 44.7g/L.