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
. 2021 Oct 26;26(21):6467.
doi: 10.3390/molecules26216467.

Polish Varieties of Industrial Hemp and Their Utilisation in the Efficient Production of Lignocellulosic Ethanol

Aleksandra Wawro  1 , Jolanta Batog  1 , Weronika Gieparda  1
Affiliations

Polish Varieties of Industrial Hemp and Their Utilisation in the Efficient Production of Lignocellulosic Ethanol

Aleksandra Wawro et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Nowadays, more and more attention is paid to the development and the intensification of the use of renewable energy sources. Hemp might be an alternative plant for bioenergy production. In this paper, four varieties of Polish industrial hemp (Białobrzeskie, Tygra, Henola, and Rajan) were investigated in order to determine which of them are the most advantageous raw materials for the effective production of bioethanol. At the beginning, physical and chemical pretreatment of hemp biomass was carried out. It was found that the most effective is the alkaline treatment with 2% NaOH, and the biomasses of the two varieties were selected for next stages of research: Tygra and Rajan. Hemp biomass before and after pretreatment was analyzed by FTIR and SEM, which confirmed the effectiveness of the pretreatment. Next, an enzymatic hydrolysis process was carried out on the previously selected parameters using the response surface methodology. Subsequently, the two approaches were analyzed: separated hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) and a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process. For Tygra biomass in the SHF process, the ethanol concentration was 10.5 g∙L-1 (3.04 m3·ha-1), and for Rajan biomass at the SSF process, the ethanol concentration was 7.5 g∙L-1 (2.23 m3·ha-1). In conclusion, the biomass of Polish varieties of hemp, i.e., Tygra and Rajan, was found to be an interesting and promising raw material for bioethanol production.

Keywords: FTIR; SEM; SHF; SSF; alkaline pretreatment; bioethanol; hemp biomass; response surface methodology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) The FTIR spectra of the Tygra biomass before and after the alkaline treatment. (b) The FTIR spectra of the Rajan biomass before and after the alkaline treatment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The SEM images of hemp biomass: (a) Tygra biomass before pretreatment, (b) Tygra biomass after pretreatment, (c) Tygra biomass after enzymatic hydrolysis, (d) Tygra biomass after enzymatic hydrolysis—selected fragment in high magnification, (e) Rajan biomass before pretreatment, (f) Rajan biomass after pretreatment, (g) Rajan biomass after enzymatic hydrolysis, (h) Rajan biomass after enzymatic hydrolysis—selected fragment in high magnification.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Enzymatic hydrolysis process of hemp biomass (RSM). Response surface representing the interaction effects of temperature, time, dose, and pH on glucose yield: (a) Tygra biomass, (b) Rajan biomass.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Enzymatic hydrolysis process of hemp biomass (RSM). Response surface representing the interaction effects of temperature, time, dose, and pH on glucose yield: (a) Tygra biomass, (b) Rajan biomass.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The ethanol concentration of hemp biomass in the SHF process. Optimized process conditions: Tygra biomass—substrate concentration 5%, enzymes: Flashzyme Plus 200 30 FPU·g−1 of solid, glucosidase 20 CBU·g-1 of solid and xylanase 500 XU·g−1 of solid, temperature 50 °C, pH 4.2, and time 48 h. Rajan biomass—substrate concentration 5%, Flashzyme Plus 200:Celluclast 1.5L (70:30) enzyme complex with a dose of 10 FPU·g−1 of solid, temperature 50 °C, pH 5.4, and time 72 h.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Ethanol concentration of hemp biomass in the SSF process. Optimized process conditions: Tygra and Rajan biomass-substrate concentration 5%, enzymes: Flashzyme:Celluclast 1.5L (50:50) 30 FPU·g−1 of solid, temperature 37 °C, pH 4.8, and time 96 h.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC (Text with EEA relevance) [(accessed on 8 April 2021)]. Available online: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32009L0028.
    1. Cattaneo C., Givonetti A., Leoni V., Guerrieri N., Manfredi M., Giorgi A., Cavaletto M. Biochemical aspects of seeds from Cannabis sativa L. plants grown in a mountain environment. Sci. Rep. 2021;11:3927. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83290-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zadrożniak B., Radwańska K., Baranowska A., Mystkowska I. Possibility of industrial hemp cultivation in areas of high nature value. Econ. Reg. Stud. 2017;10:114–127. doi: 10.2478/ers-2017-0009. - DOI
    1. Wawro A., Batog J., Gieparda W. Chemical and Enzymatic Treatment of Hemp Biomass for Bioethanol Production. Appl. Sci. 2019;9:5348. doi: 10.3390/app9245348. - DOI
    1. Bing S., Richen L., Chun Ho L., Hao W., To-Hung T., Yun Y. Recent advances and challenges of inter-disciplinary biomass valorization by integrating hydrothermal and biological techniques. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2021;135:110370.