The objective of the research work presented here is to generate carbohydrate (glucose) and use it for the production of biofuel (ethanol). To this end two biomass which are available in plenty in Israel, namely, Cicer arietinum and pinus radiata were employed (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. (a) Cicer arietinum from the agricultural fields and (b) pinus radiata from the parks of Israel
Three important stages are involved in the production of ethanol from biomass. They are delignification to get cellulose, conversion of cellulose to glucose and fermentation of glucose to ethanol. The first step of generating cellulose from the biomass is carried out using alkali treatment (0.125 M NaOH at 70 ºC for 1 h). 72 and 63 wt.% cellulose could be derived from pinus radiata and cicer arietinum respectively. The cellulose derived from pinus radiata is subjected to acid hydrolysis (5 M HCl in an autoclave for 20 minutes at 120 0C) to produce glucose with a 46 wt.% conversion of cellulose. The glucose thus produced was converted to ethanol through fermentation with yeast. Thus the potential of pinus radiata for ethanol production is elucidated. In addition, the cellulose from Cicer arietinum was also hydrolyzed to glucose under milder reaction conditions (1 M HCl and microwave irradiation for 5 min) with a conversion value of 34 wt.%. As an environmentally bening and reusable substitute to mineral acid (HCl), a solid acid catalyst (silico tungstic acid) was employed for the conversion of cellulose to glucose with a conversion of 24 wt.%. Thus the utility of biomass for the production of ethanol under fast and mild reaction conditions has been demonstrated. Details of the analytical methods employed for the cellulose hydrolysis and ethanol production will be dealt with in the poster.
