Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXI
Written by Diana GROPOȘILĂ-CONSTANTINESCU, Gabriela MARGĂRIT, Radu-Cristian TOMA, Dana BARBA, Luminița VIȘAN, Marius HANGAN

The huge amount of biomass composed of plant residues considered "waste" is a potential source of useful products. Works of this research were based on the study of the bioconversion potential in bioethanol of different types of wastes of lignocellulosic nature, obtained from the harvesting and processing of cereals (straw, cobs). Efficient capitalization of plant biomass is only possible when effective methods of delignification and decrystallization of the lignocellulosiccomplex are applied. Our research focused on the following general objectives: selection and characterization of lignocellulosic waste that can produce bioethanol, selection and adaptation of highly-productive microorganisms that ensures high conversion yields of bioethanol from the substrates obtained from lignocellulosic waste, experimentation of the technology at micropilot level. The raw materials used, wheat straw, barley straw and corn cobs, have been subjected to thermal pretreatment (autoclaving at 121°C for 30 minutes), enzymatic pretreatment (laccase), chemical pretreatment (NOH) and enzymatic hydroyisis (MethaPlus), in order to make available the polysaccharide substrates for the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. In case of alkaline pretreatment applied to all three types of lignocellulosic materials, best results were obtained when a solution of NaOH 4% was used. Anaerobic digestion of lignocellulosic materials led to ethanol concentrations of 4,9%, in case of corn cobs, 3,2% for wheat straw and 3.9, for barley straw.

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