Potencialidade de obtenção de etanol a partir da fibra do sisal.

Abstract

The Brazilian energy matrix is one of the cleanest in the world and currently more than 45% of all energy consumed in the country comes from renewable sources. The alcohol is a fuel already has its place assured in the Brazilian energy matrix, therefor the second-generation ethanol can become a source of energy for Brazil and the world. A promising plant to produce bioethanol is the sisal because it has 90% of fermentable sugars and 10% more cellulose than sugar cane, in addition to Brazil is the world's largest sisal producer. The objective was to characterize the sisal fiber, as the concentration of sugars by HPLC and the physicochemical composition chemical and thermal by means of conventional methods and techniques XRD, TG, DSC and MEV; determine the best conditions for the pre-treatment followed by acid perform basic and acidic and enzymatic hydrolysis. In addition to ferment the hydrolyzate liquor higher concentration of glucose. To evaluate the pre-treating and the acid hydrolysis it was used two grain sizes 0.21 and 0.49 mm fiber and found the effects of temperature and the concentration of acid in the production of xylose and glucose using as a tool factorial design. To assess the enzymatic hydrolysis was verified by applying a factorial design, the load effect enzyme and the dry weight ratio of sisal fiber and enzyme extract. The were used commercial enzymes of Celluclast 1.5L and Novozyme beta-glucosidase proenzyme. The pretreatment followed basic acid proved to be very effective in concentrating cellulose, by removing the hemicellulose and lignin, resulting in an increase in cellulose from 54 to 83%. Revealed a crystallinity of sisal fiber, proven by X-ray diffraction, has changed the morphology of the fiber, verified by microscopy Scanning Electron, and by Thermogravimetry and Scanning Calorimetry Differential proved the degradation of hemicellulose and lignin. With the material pretreated the enzymatic hydrolysis process was more efficient in saccharification, not occurring efficiency for acid hydrolysis. Acid hydrolysis of the material without pretreatment caused saccharification of cellulose however the values obtained glucose are smaller than those obtained in the enzymatic hydrolysis was 39000 ± 2700 mg l-1. The enzymatically hydrolysed liquor was used to produce ethanol by through submerged fermentation using S. cerevisiae (Y904), this way was obtained an ethanol yield of 19.4 gL1 in 7.3h of fermentation. The monitoring fermentation kinetics in batch reactor allowed assessment of glucose uptake, ethanol and microbial mass. In laboratory level the maximum specific rate growth was 0.3 h-1, 96% yield and productivity 2.7 g.L-1.h-1.