Impact of Non-Irrigation on 1G and 2G Bioethanol Potential of Oilcane Feedstock: A Field to Fuel Pipeline Study

Deshavath, N.N., Kannan, B., Liu, H., Woodruff., W., Shanklin, J., Altpeter, F., Singh, V. Jan. 4, 2025. “Impact of Non-Irrigation on 1G and 2G Bioethanol Potential of Oilcane Feedstock: A Field to Fuel Pipeline Study.” Fuel. DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2024.134254.

This study evaluates the bioethanol potential in response to irrigation (IR) and non-irrigation (NIR) of oilcane (OC) during a seasonal drought prior harvest. The juice was extracted through mechanical pressing of stems and fermented by Ethanol Red® yeast to produce first-generation bioethanol. Hydrothermal pretreatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis of bagasse was performed to produce monomeric sugars from structural carbohydrates. The hydrolysates were fermented with engineered yeast for second-generation bioethanol production. The irrigated oilcane juice (276.3 ± 8.9 g/L) constitutes higher sugar concentrations than non-irrigated oilcane juice (236.5 ± 2.2 g/L). The enzymatic hydrolysis of IR-OC and NIR-OC pretreated bagasse yielded similar concentrations of 247.5 ± 2.22 and 249.7 ± 4.98 g/L fermentable sugars. Industry-relevant bioethanol titers of ≥99 g/L and ≥75 g/L were achieved from juice and hydrolysates, respectively. Therefore, the non-irrigation regime did not impact the 1G and 2G bioethanol titers. However, the overall bioethanol yield can be lower due to the reduction of stem yield (8 %) per hectare.

Download (8.2 KB) includes:

• Sugar yields
• Fermentation profiles
• Ethanol productivity
• Sugar utilization rates