Bioethanol production from common reed (Phragmites australis): Enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation

Several biomaterials consisting of high amount of carbohydrate in the structure and pretreatment methods have been studied by researchers to maximize the ethanol yield. Therefore, this study was focused on enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of common reed for the bioethanol production. The biologically and chemically pretreated common reed was enzymatically hydrolyzed and the results showed that the NaOH treatment had the highest glucan conversion rates (79.7%), followed by the NaBH4 (74.1%), H2O2 (71.9%), fungal pretreatment (69.4%), B2O3 (65.5%) and H2SO4 (46.1%). The highest ethanol yield (13.2 g/100 g) and the calculated highest theoretical yield (85.3%) from untreated common reed were observed for the NaOH- pretreated samples. The fungal- and NaBH4-pretreated samples yielded 10.6 and 12.3 g/100 g of ethanol (based on untreated common reed), respectively. The results of this study indicated that, because of its economic feasibility and environmental advantages, the fungal pretreatment was more suitable for common reed bioethanol production.