High Solids Loading Biorefinery for the Production of Cellulosic Sugars from Bioenergy Sorghum

Cheng, M-H., Jawad Kadhum, H., Murthy, G.S., Dien, B.S., Singh, V. Aug. 26, 2020. “Data from High Solids Loading Biorefinery for the Production of Cellulosic Sugars from Bioenergy Sorghum.” University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. DOI: 10.13012/B2IDB-4442768_V1.

A novel process applying high solids loading in chemical-free pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis was developed to produce sugars from bioenergy sorghum. Hydrothermal pretreatment with 50% solids loading was performed in a pilot scale continuous reactor followed by disc refining. Sugars were extracted from the enzymatic hydrolysis at 10% to 50% solids content using fed-batch operations. Three surfactants (Tween 80, PEG 4000, and PEG 6000) were evaluated to increase sugar yields. Hydrolysis using 2% PEG 4000 had the highest sugar yields. Glucose concentrations of 105, 130, and 147 g/L were obtained from the reaction at 30%, 40%, and 50% solids content, respectively. The maximum sugar concentration of the hydrolysate, including glucose and xylose, obtained was 232 g/L. Additionally, the glucose recovery (73.14%) was increased compared to that of the batch reaction (52.74%) by using two-stage enzymatic hydrolysis combined with fed-batch operation at 50% w/v solids content.

Download includes:

• Sugar yields
• Biomass Loading Pattern