Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jan 22:9:16.
doi: 10.1186/s13068-016-0437-x. eCollection 2016.

Combination of ensiling and fungal delignification as effective wheat straw pretreatment

Sune T Thomsen  1 , Jorge E G Londoño  1 , Morten Ambye-Jensen  2 , Stefan Heiske  1 , Zsofia Kádár  1 , Anne S Meyer  1
Affiliations

Combination of ensiling and fungal delignification as effective wheat straw pretreatment

Sune T Thomsen et al. Biotechnol Biofuels. .

Abstract

Background: Utilization of lignocellulosic feedstocks for bioenergy production in developing countries demands competitive but low-tech conversion routes. White-rot fungi (WRF) inoculation and ensiling are two methods previously investigated for low-tech pretreatment of biomasses such as wheat straw (WS). This study was undertaken to assess whether a combination of forced ensiling with Lactobacillus buchneri and WRF treatment using a low cellulase fungus, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, could produce a relevant pretreatment effect on WS for bioethanol and biogas production.

Results: A combination of the ensiling and WRF treatment induced efficient pretreatment of WS by reducing lignin content and increasing enzymatic sugar release, thereby enabling an ethanol yield of 66 % of the theoretical max on the WS glucan, i.e. a yield comparable to yields obtained with high-tech, large-scale pretreatment methods. The pretreatment effect was reached with only a minor total solids loss of 5 % by weight mainly caused by the fungal metabolism. The combination of the biopretreatments did not improve the methane potential of the WS, but improved the initial biogas production rate significantly.

Conclusion: The combination of the L. buchneri ensiling and C. subvermispora WRF treatment provided a significant improvement in the pretreatment effect on WS. This combined biopretreatment produced particularly promising results for ethanol production.

Keywords: Biogas; Ceriporiopsis subvermispora; Ensiling; Ethanol; Lignocellulose; Pretreatment; White rot.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Wheat straw after ensiling and fungal pretreatment: a w WS F (visually similar to EWS F and w WS F), b w EWS F
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Enzymatic convertibility of carbohydrates of WRF-pretreated material in triplicates (a, b and c) and raw material. Dark grey glucan, light grey: xylan, arabinan were below 0.5 g/100 g TS in all samples. The results are grouped according to significance (p = 0.05 %), where ‘a’ is significantly higher than ‘b’ and so forth. Error bars represents standard deviations
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of pretreated materials and controls. The results are grouped according to significance (p = 0.05 %), where ‘a’ is significantly higher than ‘b’ and so forth. Error bars represents standard deviations
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
a BMP of pretreated samples and controls. b Biogas production rate first week of production. The results are grouped according to significance (p = 0.05 %), where ‘a’ is significantly higher than ‘b’ and so forth. Error bars represents standard deviations
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barrie L, Braathen G. World Meteorological Organization Greenhouse Gas Bulletin; 2014. No 10: 9 Sep 2014.
    1. Coppola F, Bastianoni S, Østergård H. Sustainability of bioethanol production from wheat with recycled residues as evaluated by energy assessment. Biomass Bioenergy. 2009;33(11):1626–1642. doi: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2009.08.003. - DOI
    1. Thomsen MH, Hauggaard-Nielsen H. Sustainable bioethanol production combining biorefinery principles using combined raw materials from wheat undersown with clover-grass. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol. 2008;35(5):303–311. doi: 10.1007/s10295-008-0334-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lynd LR, Sow M, Chimphango AFA, Cortez LAB, Cruz CHB, Elmissiry M, et al. Bioenergy and African transformation. Biotechnol Biofuels. 2015;8:18. doi: 10.1186/s13068-014-0188-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Amigun B, Sigamoney R, von Blottnitz H. Commercialisation of biofuel industry in Africa: a review. Renew Sust Energ Rev. 2008;12(3):690–711. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2006.10.019. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources