Lignocellulosic Biomass Fractionation: Production of Ethanol, Lignin and Carbon Source for Fungal Culture

This paper focuses on valorization alternatives of several fractions of new feedstock as Juncus maritimus and Retama raetam through a specific laboratory-scale part of biorefinery way implying organosolv and chemical pretreatments as well as cellulose saccharification and alcoholic fermentation to obtain acceptable yields. After organosolv pretreatment, the obtained cellulosic fraction was used as substrate for cellulase catalyzed-saccharification followed by fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae for ethanol production. The maximum obtained ethanol yields were (41.7 +/- 0.85)% and (40.57 +/- 1.18)% (g ethanol g(-1) glucose) using respectively J. maritimus and R. raetam. The liquid hemicellulosic fraction collected after pretreatment was used as a carbon source for Aspergillus niger culture in order to produce xylanolytic enzymes. The highest xylanase activity obtained was 0.44 U mL(-1) using the hemicellulosic fraction of J. maritimus. When using chemical pretreatment, the cellulose obtained in the solid fraction was converted into ethanol with yields reaching 37.28 +/- 0.81% and 38.35 +/- 1.76% respectively from R. reatam and J. maritimus biomasses. The lignin from solid phase separated from cellulose was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). It shows potential interest for use in aromatic chemicals production.