Soledad Mateo

Oligosaccharides and monomeric carbohydrates production from olive tree pruning biomass.

Using the severity factor, it has been possible to study cellulose and hemicellulose fractional conversion, sugar yields change and oligosaccharides variation through olive tree pruning biomass pretreatments with acid or liquid hot water under pressure. The temperatures tested were in the range 180-230°C, operation time varying between 0 and 30min and acid concentration used did not exceed 0.05M. Complete hemicellulose solubilization in autohydrolysis was achieved using severity factors (logR0) close to 3.9 (most sugars are like oligomers), while if sulfuric acid 0.025M is employed, this parameter could be smaller (≥3.4). With these treatments, we have obtained cellulose conversions between 30 and 42% from liquid hot water experiments, 40-51% with sulfuric acid 0.025M and 42-57% when the acid concentration was 0.05M. The best results in terms of maximum yield in total sugars, d-glucose and d-xylose, with a low amount of acetic acid and hydroxymethylfurfural, was obtained at 200°C, 0min (what means that there is no time of temperature maintenance, only heating and cooling) and H2SO4 0.025M.

Detoxification of Rice Straw and Olive Tree Pruning Hemicellulosic Hydrolysates Employing Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Its Effect on the Ethanol Production by Pichia stipitis

The aim of this work was to study the ability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (bakers yeast) to metabolize a variety of aromatic compounds found in rice straw (RSHH) and olive tree pruning (OTHH) hemicellulosic hydrolysates, obtained by acid hydrolysis at different sugar and toxic compound concentrations. Initially, the hydrolysates were inoculated with S. cerevisiae (10 g L(-1)) and incubated at 30 °C under agitation at 200 rpm for 6 h. The results showed that this yeast was able to utilize phenolic and furan compounds in both hemicellulose hydrolysates. Next, the treated hydrolysates were inoculated with Pichia stipitis NRRL Y-7124 to evaluate the effect of biotransformation of aromatic compounds on ethanol production, and better fermentation results were obtained in this case compared to untreated ones. The untreated hemicellulose hydrolysates were not able to be fermented when they were incubated with Pichia stipitis. However, in RSHH treated hydrolysates, ethanol (Y(P/S)) and biomass (Y(X/S)) yields and volumetric ethanol productivity (Q(P)) were 0.17 g g(-1), 0.15 g g(-1) and 0.09 g L(-1) h(-1), respectively. The OTHH-treated hydrolysates showed less favorable results compared to RSHH, but the fermentation process was favored with regard to untreated hydrolysate. These results showed that the fermentation by P. stipitis in untreated hydrolysates was strongly inhibited by toxic compounds present in the media and that treatment with S. cerevisiae promoted a significant reduction in their toxicities.

Ethanol and xylitol production by fermentation of acid hydrolysate from olive pruning with Candida tropicalis NBRC 0618.

Olive tree pruning biomass has been pretreated with pressurized steam, hydrolysed with hydrochloric acid, conditioned and afterwards fermented using the non-traditional yeast Candida tropicalis NBRC 0618. The main aim of this study was to analyse the influence of acid concentration on the hydrolysis process and its effect on the subsequent fermentation to produce ethanol and xylitol. From the results, it could be deduced that both total sugars and d-glucose recovery were enhanced by increasing the acid concentration tested; almost the whole hemicellulose fraction was hydrolysed when 3.77% was used. It has been observed a sequential production first of ethanol, from d-glucose, and then xylitol from d-xylose. The overall ethanol and xylitol yields ranged from 0.27 to 0.38kgkg(-1), and 0.12 to 0.23kgkg(-1) respectively, reaching the highest values in the fermentation of the hydrolysates obtained with hydrochloric acid 2.61% and 1.11%, respectively.

Monomeric carbohydrates production from olive tree pruning biomass: Modeling of dilute acid hydrolysis

Statistical modeling and optimization of dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis of olive tree pruning biomass has been performed using response surface methodology. Central composite rotatable design was applied to assess the effect of acid concentration, reaction time and temperature on efficiency and selectivity of hemicellulosic monomeric carbohydrates to d-xylose. Second-order polynomial model was fitted to experimental data to find the optimum reaction conditions by multiple regression analysis. The monomeric d-xylose recovery 85% (as predicted by the model) was achieved under optimized hydrolysis conditions (1.27% acid concentration, 96.5°C and 138 min), confirming the high validity of the developed model. The content of d-glucose (8.3%) and monosaccharide degradation products (0.1% furfural and 0.04% 5-hydroxymethylfurfural) provided a high quality subtract, ready for subsequent biochemical conversion to value-added products.

Improving bioethanol production from olive pruning biomass by deacetylation step prior acid hydrolysis and fermentation processes.

In order to produce bioethanol from olive tree pruning biomass, deacetylation was performed employing sodium hydroxide. Optimal conditions were determined using experimental design techniques. The highest acetic acid removal (3.8g/dm(3)), obtained by response surface methodology, was at optimum pretreatment conditions of temperature 60°C, 0.8% NaOH and residence time 60min. After oxalic acid hydrolysis of pretreated biomass, the hydrolysates were directly used for ethanol production without further detoxification process. Ethanol yields ranged from 0.19 to 0.45g/g, reaching the maximum yield value when pretreatment was carried out at 130°C with 100mM oxalic acid, involving a combined severity factor (CSF) of 1.05. The highest ethanol concentration obtained from pretreated biomass was 6.2g/dm(3) at 150°C, using 75mM of oxalic acid (CSF=1.53).