Journal
BIOMASS & BIOENERGY
Volume 33, Issue 12, Pages 1680-1686Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2009.09.001
Keywords
Rice husk; Wet oxidation; Ethanol; Response surface methodology; Biomass; Oryza sativa L.
Funding
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India
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The pretreatment of rice husk by the wet air oxidation (WAO) technique was investigated by means of a statistically designed set of experiments. Reaction temperature, air pressure, and reaction time were the process parameters considered. WAO pretreatment of rice husk increased the cellulose content of the solid fraction by virtue of lignin removal and hemicellulose solubilization. The cellulose recovery was around 92%, while lignin recovery was in the tune of 8-20%, indicating oxidation of a bulk quantity of lignin. The liquid fraction was found to be rich in hexose and pentose sugars, which could be directly utilized as substrate for ethanol fermentation. The WAO process was optimized by multi-objective numerical optimization with the help of MINITAB 14 suite of statistical software, and an optimum WAO condition of 185 degrees C, 0.5 MPa, and 15 min was predicted and experimentally validated to give 67% (w/w) cellulose content in the solid fraction, along with 89% lignin removal, and 70% hemicellulose solubilization; 13.1 gl(-1) glucose and 3.4 gl(-1) xylose were detected in the liquid fraction. The high cellulose content and negligible residual lignin in the solid fraction would greatly facilitate subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis, and result in improved ethanol yields from rice husk. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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