Co-hydrolysis of hydrothermal and dilute acid pretreated populus slurries to support development of a high-throughput pretreatment system
2011

Co-hydrolysis of Biomass Slurries for Biofuel Production

publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Michael H. Studer, Simone Brethauer, Jaclyn D. DeMartini, Heather L. McKenzie, Charles E. Wyman

Primary Institution: University of California Riverside

Hypothesis

Can co-hydrolysis improve sugar yields from pretreated biomass compared to conventional methods?

Conclusion

Co-hydrolysis is a viable method for improving sugar yields from pretreated biomass, especially at lower solid concentrations.

Supporting Evidence

  • Co-hydrolysis achieved good yields of glucose and xylose for poplar slurries at solid concentrations up to 2%.
  • High enzyme loadings were necessary to achieve yields from co-hydrolysis similar to those from conventional methods.
  • The influence of pretreatment severity on enzymatic hydrolysis was discernible even with co-hydrolysis.

Takeaway

This study shows that mixing everything together instead of separating it can help get more sugar from plants when making biofuels.

Methodology

The study used a high-throughput screening method to perform co-hydrolysis on pretreated biomass slurries without separating solids and liquids.

Limitations

The study primarily focused on specific pretreatment methods and may not generalize to all biomass types.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1754-6834-4-19

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