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Hydrothermal pretreatment of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)residues to improve enzymatic convertibility and ethanol production

Conference Paper · April 2015

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6 authors, including:

Chuanji Fang Jens Ejbye Schmidt

Khalifa University University of Southern Denmark
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 Hydrothermal pretreatment of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) residues to
improve enzymatic convertibility and ethanol production
Chuanji 1
Fang , Jens Ejbye 1
Schmidt , Iwona 1
Cybulska , Grzegorz P. 1
Brudecki , Christian Grundahl 2
Frankær , Mette Hedegaard Thomsen 1

1 Institute
Center for Energy (iEnergy), Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 54224, Abu Dhabi.
2 Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

cfang@masdar.ac.ae, jschmidt@masdar.ac.ae, icybulska@masdar.ac.ae, gbrudecki@masdar.ac.ae, cghar@kemi.dtu.dk, mthomsen@masdar.ac.ae

Abstract
1.3 Chemical changes 2.3 Inhibition test on fermentation (liquids)
Date palm residues is a promising lignocellulosic biomass for bioethanol Leaflets
(a) Leaflets_180℃/10min
production in the Middle East. In this study, leaflets and rachis were Leaflets_190℃/10min 100% Leaflets_180℃

Absorbance units
Leaflets_200℃/10min Leaflets_190℃
subjected to hydrothermal pretreatment to overcome the recalcitrance of Leaflets_210℃/10min 80%
Leaflets_200℃

Ethanol yield
the biomass for enzymatic conversion. Evident morphological, structural 60% Leaflets_210℃
and chemical changes were observed by scanning electron microscopy, X- 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 40%
Rachis_180℃
Wavenumber (cm-1) Rachis_190℃
ray Diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy after pretreatment. High glucan
(b) rachis 20% Rachis_200℃
(>90% for both leaflets and rachis) and xylan (>75% for leaflets and >79% rachis_180℃/10min Rachis_210℃
rachis_190℃/10min 0%

Absorbance units
for rachis) recovery were achieved. Under the optimal condition of rachis_200℃/10min 0 20 40 60 80
rachis_210℃/10min
hydrothermal pretreatment (210℃/10min) highly digestible (glucan Fermentation time, h

convertibility, 100% to leaflets, 78% to rachis) and fermentable (ethanol 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 2.4 Ethanol yield by SSF (solids)
Wavenumber (cm-1)
yield, 96% to leaflets, 80% to rachis) solid fractions were obtained. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) of date 100% 30
palm (a) leaflets and (b) rachis.
Fermentability test of the liquid fractions proved that no considerable

Ethanol concentration, g/L

80% 25
inhibitors to Saccharomyces cerevisiae were produced in the hydrothermal 20
1.4 Composition analysis and sugar recoveries (solids) 60%

Ethanol yield
pretreatment. Given the high sugar recovery, enzymatic digestibility, and 15
(a) 40%
10
ethanol yield, production of bioethanol by hydrothermal pretreatment 100
20% 5
80
g/100 g dry matter

could be a promising way of valorization of date palm residues in this Glucan

60 0% 0

180℃

190℃

200℃

210℃

180℃

190℃

200℃

210℃
Untreated

Untreated
region. Xylan
40
Arabinan
Highlights 20
0
Lignin
Leaflets Rachis
180℃

190℃

200℃

210℃

180℃

190℃

200℃

210℃
Untreated

Untreated
 It is the first time reporting bioethanol production from Ethanol yield Ethanol concentration
lignocellulosic date palm residues.
Holistic studies including biomass physico-chemical characterization,
enzymatic digestibility, bioethanol potential, and fermentability were
(b)
100%

80%
Leaflets
(c)
120%
100%
Rachis
Conclusions
Glucan recovery

performed.
Xylan recovery

80%
60%
60%
In this study, date palm leaflets and rachis were treated by
 Provide experimental data for tech-economic evaluation of 40%
40% hydrothermal pretreatment. Noticeable advantages were observed on
bioethanol production from date palm residues. 20% 20%
0% 0% facilitating structural deconstruction, achieving high sugar recovery,
180℃ 190℃ 200℃ 210℃ 180℃ 190℃ 200℃ 210℃ 180℃ 190℃ 200℃ 210℃ 180℃ 190℃ 200℃ 210℃
generating no significant fermentation inhibition, enhancing
Results Leaflets Rachis Leaflets Rachis

Glucan recovery from solids Glucan recovery from liquids Xylan recovery from solids Xylan recovery from liquids enzymatic digestibility and ethanol conversion. Optimal pretreatment
1. Characterization of biomass condition was observed at 210℃/10min by achieving highest
1.1 Morphological changes 2. Enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation enzymatic digestibility, and ethanol yield.

2.1 Enzymatic digestibility (solids)

(g)

100%
Materials and methods
80%
 Biomass
Convertibility

60%
Leaves were collected from date palm trees in
40% Abu Dhabi in 2013. Leaflets and rachis were separated from
leaves.
20%

0%  Hydrothermal pretreatment
180℃

190℃

200℃

210℃

180℃

190℃

200℃

210℃
Untreated

Untreated

See details in (Fang et al., 2015)

Scanning electron micrographs of (a) Raw leaflets. (b) and (c) Leaflets treated at 180℃,
and 210℃, respectively. (d) Raw rachis. (e) and (f) rachis treated at 180℃ and 210℃,  Characterization by SEM, FTIR, and XRD
Leaflets Rachis
respectively. (g) Magnified red circle area in Fig. 2(e). Red arrows represent crystallites
Glucose conversion Xylose conversion See details in (Fang et al., 2015)
in Fig. 2(e).

2.2 Bioethanol potential (solids)  Enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentability test, and SSF
1.2 Structural (crystallinity) changes
250
See details in (Fang et al., 2015)
kg ethnaol/t dry biomass

200
150
Acknowledgements
100
This study was support by MIT&MI Flagship project (13KAMA1, Biorefinery:
50 Integrated Sustainable Processes for Biomass Conversion to Biomaterials,
Biofuels and Fertilizers.). Thomas Delclos and Jason Bassett are
0
acknowledged for their technical assistance.
180℃

190℃

200℃

210℃

180℃

190℃

200℃

210℃
Untreated

Untreated

References
Leaflets Rachis Chuanji Fang, Jens Ejbye Schmidt, Iwona Cybulska, Grzegorz P. Brudecki, Christian Grundahl Frankær, and Mette
Hedegaard Thomsen, “Hydrothermal Pretreatment of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Leaflets and Rachis to Enhance
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012

www.PosterPresentations.com Ethanol potential from xylose Ethanol potential from glucose Enzymatic Digestibility and Bioethanol Potential,” BioMed Research International, Article ID 216454, in press.

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