Eucalyptus wood and cheese whey valorization for biofuels production

Abstract

In this work, two raw materials (Eucalyptus wood and cheese whey) were used for ethanol production. Eucalyptus wood was hydrothermally pretreated at 233 ºC in order to increase the enzymatic saccharification of cellulose. Pretreated Eucalyptus wood mixed or not with cheese whey were used as substrates for ethanol production by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) using two Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains (industrial Ethanol Red® and laboratory CEN.PK1137D). The use of cheese whey mixed with Eucalyptus wood increased 1.3 and 1.5-fold the ethanol concentration in comparison with Eucalyptus without cheese whey using S. cerevisiae Ethanol Red® and CEN.PK113 7D strains, respectively. Higher ethanol concentration was obtained by Ethanol Red® than ethanol produced by CEN.PK113-7D with cheese whey supplementation (93 g/L and 65 g/L corresponding to 94 % and 66 % of ethanol yield, respectively). Results obtained in this work showed an interesting strategy for the valorization of two raw materials in order to produce high concentrations of ethanol.