Pretreatment of Mulberry Twig using Nonionic Surfactant-assisted Ionic Liquid for Zymolysis and Subsequent Bioethanol Production

Abstract

Abstract A natural cellulosic biomass pretreatment process was established to use ionic liquid (IL) for efficient zymolysis and subsequent bioethanol production, the IL 1, 3-Dimethylimidazolium dimethyl phosphate/Tween-80 ([Mmim][DMP]/T80) was selected in view of its high pretreatment function. The productivity of reducing sugars from mulberry twigs pretreated with the IL at 130°C for 0.33 h reached 74.72% after zymolysis for 48 h, while only a 14.62% conversion rate for the sample pretreated by water. The fermentability character of the hydrolyzate, witdrawn from zymolysis, was fermented into bioethanol using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This kind of microbe could efficiently utilize glucose to produce ethanol with the yield of 0.382 g/g glucose in 30 h fermentation. In conclusion, the ionic liquid pretreatment at low temperatures shows promise as a pretreatment reagent for natural lignocellulosic biomass.