Abstract

The main concern in converting sugarcane bagasse to bio-butanol fuel is the conversion of the polysaccharides by enzymatic breakdown into monosaccharides. This study focused on the use of steam explosion as a pretreatment method. Steam explosion treatment of biomass had been previously used to increase cellulose accessibility [1,3,5,6,8,9]. Following steam explosion pretreatment, sugarcane bagasse was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis employing the Acremonium Cellulase as the reactant. The sugars released by enzymatic hydrolysis were further fermented by Clostridium Beijerinckii. Raw sugarcane bagasse was found to have the polysaccharides content of 56.24%. The fiber loss during the steam explosion treatment was high, up to 67.11%. Steam explosion treatment on sugarcane bagasse increased the enzymatic hydrolysis capability of cellulose. After steam explosion treatment at temperature of 224oC for 2 minutes, the cellulose hydrolysis conversion efficiency could reach 98.04% by applying Acremonium Cellulase for 72 hours. It has been stated that steam explosion was suitable to improve cellulose content and consequently improve fermentable glucose yield from enzymatic hydrolysis while drastically reducing hemicellulose content of the fibers. Butanol has been successfully produced from the sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate in acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) process applying C. Beijerinckii.