Bioethanol production of second generation from corn cob

Abstract

Bioethanol production from lignocellulosic materials has several environmental and economic advantages. In this work, corn cob was used to produce ethanol by fermentation. The cob was grounded, hydrolyzed chemically, and then enzymatically. Later, hydrolysates were used as a carbon source to formulate culture media that were inoculated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae; hollocellulose content was quantified by the ASTM D-1104 method; cellulose content by the TAPPTI 212 method; lignin content by the NREL / TP-510-42618 method; and ethanol was quantified by HPLC. In fermentation, bioethanol yields of up to 3.5 g / L were found, equivalent to YP/S value of 0.46, representing approximately 90% of the theoretical yield.