Biological hydrogen and furfural production from steam-exploded vine shoots

Vine shoots are an agricultural waste rich in carbohydrates that can be considered as a promising energy source alternative. The objective of this work was to propose a process strategy for the valorisation of this residual biomass, including the chemical conversion of solubilised sugars into furfural and the biological conversion of cellulosic glucose into H2. Vine shoots were subjected to steam explosion pretreatment, and its operational conditions were optimised as 190 degrees C and 1.6% H2SO4 impregnated biomass. These pretreatment conditions allowed to recover 68.2% of the hemicellulose sugars and 18.2% of glucose in the prehydrolysate and 45.3% glucose by enzymatic hydrolysis. Thus, the pretreated solid obtained under optimised conditions was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis and the slurry generated was used as a substrate by Clostridium butyricum for fermentation into biohydrogen (830.7 mL/L and a yield of 3550 mL per 100 g of raw vine shoots) and organic acids (1495.3 mg acetic acid/L and 1726.8 mg butyric acid/L). Based on furfural production, the chemical conversion of xylose in the prehydrolysate was optimised in a microwave reactor at 202 degrees C, using 0.195 M FeCl3 as a catalyst, with a furfural production of 15 g/L and 73% yield.

Automated summary

This study proposes a process strategy for the utilization of vine shoots as a residual biomass, involving chemical and biological conversions. The steam explosion pretreatment of vine shoots enables the recovery of sugars, which can be converted into hydrogen and organic acids through enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. Additionally, xylose in the prehydrolysate can be chemically converted into furfural.