New generation biofuel and feedstock pre-treatment challenge: a novel strategy to assess biomass processing using mixtures of ionic liquids and ultrasound, a simultaneous and multivariate approach

Abstract

Climate changes, due to the historical depletion of natural resources, have led us to rethink technology driving. The replacement of fossil fuels by renewable alternatives has been studied in order to mitigate the environmental impact of energy production. However, the use of lignocellulosic waste, such as sugar cane bagasse and straw for biofuels synthesis, demands pre-treatment, due to its complexity. The recent use of ionic liquids (IL) in this process emerges as a strategy to overcome the problems faced, such as high energy demand and inhibitory compounds production. In this context, this project proposes the use of several ILs in sugarcane biomass (straw) pretreatment, providing better biomass utilization in a novel proposal, economically and environmentally viable. In a pioneering study, the influence of temperature, pH, ultrasound, agitation, water, biomass content and mixture proportion of different ILs in biomass deconstruction will be evaluated simultaneously using experimental design. Efficiencies and yields will be observed in the enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. The reuse of the pre-treatment liquor will be evaluated in two possibilities: evaluation of the biomethanogenic potential (anaerobic digestion) and production of ligninase enzymes in biotransformations by actinomycetes. The pretreated biomass will be evaluated for two applications: the production of 2G ethanol and the production of high value-added products (oligosaccharides) through enzymes obtained by fermentation of fungi. (AU)