Carl J. Houtman

Scale-up study of oxalic acid pretreatment of agricultural lignocellulosic biomass for the production of bioethanol

Building on our laboratory-scale optimization, oxalic acid was used to pretreat corncobs on the pilot-scale. The hydrolysate obtained after washing the pretreated biomass contained 32.55g/l of xylose, 2.74g/l of glucose and low concentrations of inhibitors. Ethanol production, using Scheffersomyces stipitis, from this hydrolysate was 10.3g/l, which approached the predicted value of 11.9g/l. Diafiltration using a membrane system effectively reduced acetic acid in the hydrolysate, which increased the fermentation rate. The hemicellulose content of the recovered solids decreased from 27.86% before pretreatment to only 6.76% after pretreatment. Most of the cellulose remained in the pretreated biomass. The highest ethanol production after simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of washed biomass with S. stipitis was 21.1g/l.

Acridine Orange Indicates Early Oxidation of Wood Cell Walls by Fungi

Colonization of wood blocks by brown and white rot fungi rapidly resulted in detectable wood oxidation, as shown by a reduced phloroglucinol response, a loss of autofluorescence, and acridine orange (AO) staining. This last approach is shown to provide a novel method for identifying wood oxidation. When lignin was mildly oxidized, the association between AO and lignin was reduced such that stained wood sections emitted less green light during fluorescence microscopy. This change was detectable after less than a week, an interval that past work has shown to be too short for significant delignification of wood. Although fungal hyphae were observed in only a few wood lumina, oxidation was widespread, appearing relatively uniform over regions several hundred micrometers from the hyphae. This observation suggests that both classes of fungi release low molecular weight mild oxidants during the first few days of colonization.