Material flow of cellulose in rice straw to ethanol and lignin recovery by NaOH pretreatment coupled with acid washing

Agricultural residues could become feedstocks for biobased products as they are renewable, carbon neutral, and do not compete with food. In India, > 130 MT rice straw is available annually for alternate uses. Exploiting this abundant biomass for biochemical production will pave way for bio-based economy. Rice straw is highly recalcitrant due to lignin-carbohydrate complex and high ash. For production of value added products, the cellulose fraction is very important and also lignin can be used. However, for overall economic efficiency, it is imperative to separate and recover these fractions maximally from biomass and convert them into high value products at high titers and efficiency. Biomass has to be deconstructed to access these fractions. An improvised pretreatment with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) coupled with acidified water wash enabled high retrieval of cellulose and lignin. More than 80% of cellulose present in raw rice straw was recovered in pretreated solids and lignin (> 65%) recovered from acidification of alkali prehydrolysates/wash waters. Enzymatic hydrolysis of solids with commercial cellulases resulted in 80-100% glucan conversion at 6% and 3% loading respectively yielding similar to 5.5% and 3.3% sugar syrups which can be fermented to value added chemicals. Saccharomyces cerevisiae LN fermented hydrolysates with 77-97% efficiency producing 0.508 gg(-1) and 0.403 gg(-1)ethanol within 24 h consuming all glucose while xylose was unutilized. Material calculations showed that this process converted 63% of cellulose present in rice straw to ethanol potentially yielding 135 L ethanol and similar to 100 Kg lignin per ton of rice straw with limited water use.

Automated summary

Agricultural residues, such as rice straw, can be used as feedstocks for biobased products. Efficient separation and recovery of cellulose and lignin from biomass is crucial for economic efficiency. Pretreatment with sodium hydroxide and acidified water wash enables high retrieval of cellulose and lignin. Enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation can convert these fractions into high value products.