Journal
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
Volume 304, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122976
Keywords
Wheat straw; Energy; Pre-treatment; Pressurised disc refining; Cellulose digestibility
Funding
- BBSRC's 'Plants to Products' Networks in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy (Proof of Concept award) [HD-RD0300E]
- BEACON Biorefining Centre of Excellence (European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government)
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This preliminary study assesses a potential pre-treatment approach for agricultural residues, in order to improve enzyme access and cellulose digestibility that increased with increasing refining pressure. Wheat straw, an important European agri-residue, was chopped then refined at pilot-scale under different pressures (4-10 bar) and two refiner plate configurations. The most energy efficient runs used 0.94-0.96 kWh electricity; 8.9-11.0 MJ heat per kg dry matter fibre. A scaling factor specific to the machinery used in the trial suggested that wheat straw could be refined using approximately 160 kWh electricity and 980-1900 MJ heat per tonne DM yield at commercial-scale. Hemicellulose content in wheat straw at 31.8% decreased to the lowest level of 14.6% after refining at 10 bar. Pressurised disc refining did not appear to produce significant quantities of acetic acid, a key fermentation inhibitor, that could limit microbial fermentation.
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