Volatile impurities in crude bioethanol produced from giant miscanthus
https://doi.org/10.21285/achb.1009
EDN: OCWINK
Abstract
The study of volatile impurities in crude bioethanol is of great technical importance for further catalytic conversion of bioethanol to industrial chemicals, as well as of considerable significance in the prevention of potable alcohol adulteration. This study was the first to analyze volatile impurities in crude bioethanol obtained from giant miscanthus using three proprietary pretreatment methods. These methods are based on treating raw materials with dilute nitric acid solutions at atmospheric pressure. The classical method for the pretreatment of cellulose-containing non-wood raw materials – alkaline delignification with sodium hydroxide – was used as the reference method. The resulting substrates were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis (using Cellolux-A and Ultraflo Core preparations) together with alcoholic fermentation (using Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y-3136). The composition of crude bioethanol was determined using gas-liquid chromatography. The methodology used to produce bioethanol provided a means to obtain crude bioethanol with a methanol content of no more than 0.009 vol%, which is ten times lower than that regulated by industry codes. The purity of crude bioethanol samples is determined by two parameters: first, the number of pretreatment stages (two-stage pretreatment reduces the total amount of impurities in crude bioethanol by 4–21 times compared to single-stage pretreatment); second, a specific method of single-stage pretreatment (for example, pretreatment with nitric acid yields crude bioethanol with five times higher purity than in the case of the classical alkaline delignification).
Supporting agencies: The Russian Science Foundation supported the research (grant no. 22-13-00107-P, https://rscf.ru/project/22-13-00107/).
About the Authors
E. A. Skiba
Institute for Problems of Chemical and Energetic Technologies, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ekaterina A. Skiba, Dr. Sci. (Engineering), Associate Professor, Leading Researcher
1, Sotsialisticheskaya St., Biysk, 659322
G. F. Mironova
Institute for Problems of Chemical and Energetic Technologies, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Galina F. Mironova, Cand. Sci. (Engineering), Researcher
1, Sotsialisticheskaya St., Biysk, 659322
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Review
For citations:
Skiba E.A., Mironova G.F. Volatile impurities in crude bioethanol produced from giant miscanthus. Proceedings of Universities. Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology. 2025;15(4):590-596. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21285/achb.1009. EDN: OCWINK
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