Research of the continuous saccharification and ethanol fermentation from pretreated corn stalks

A laboratory device for the continuous saccharification and fermentation process( CSF) of high total solid( TS) pretreated corn stalk( PCS) was designed and constructed in this article.The CSF processes of 3 types of system were investigated,in which the total solid were 21%,25% and 36.8%,and cellulase loading( EL) were5.4%,4.8% and 3.7% respectively.The 21% TS /5.4% EL and 25% TS /4.8% EL systems achieved stable operation within 27 d and 36 d,and in which the highest ethanol concentration came to 2.8% and 3.3% respectively. Due to high inhibitor concentration,the 36.8% TS /3.7% EL system had no ethanol produced,but in which the hydrolyzed sugar concentration came to 12.5%. The purpose of enhancing hydrolysis sugar concentration in enzymatic process was achieved,which indicated that continuous enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation technology was feasible.