Lignocellulosic Sugarcane Tops
for Bioethanol Production: An Overview
Subramaniapillai Niju and Mani Swathika
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 90
2 Steps Involved in Bioethanol Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3 Different Pretreatment Techniques Employed on SCT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4 Dilute Acid Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5 Alkaline Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6 Ultrasound Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
7 Enzymatic Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
8 Alkaline Hydrogen Peroxide (AHP) Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
9 Hydrolysis Employed in SCT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
10 Acid Hydrolysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
11 Enzymatic Hydrolysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
12 Fermentation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 102
13 Conclusion . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 102
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Abstract Better living standards, population growth, and expanding urbanization
escalate the energy requirement tremendously. Declining stockpile of nonrenewable
fossil fuels and its severe impact on environment have created huge consciousness
among government, researchers, and industries to develop alternative renewable
energy sources. Bioethanol has been considered as one of the most efficient alternative liquid fuels to replace the existing conventional crude oil-based petrol.
Among the different lignocellulosic biomass, agricultural residues especially sugarcane tops (SCT) are becoming a promising feedstock for bioethanol production.
However, the presence of high amount of lignin possesses a major hurdle in
converting this promising feedstock to bioethanol. Hence, this review paper summarizes the various pretreatment methods, hydrolysis, and fermentation techniques
reported in the bioethanol production from underutilized SCT. From the overall
S. Niju (*) and M. Swathika
Department of Biotechnology, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
e-mail: sn.bio@psgtech.ac.in; nijuwillbe@gmail.com
Manuel Jerold, Santhiagu Arockiasamy, and Velmurugan Sivasubramanian (eds.),
Bioprocess Engineering for Bioremediation: Valorization and Management
Techniques, Hdb Env Chem (2020) 104: 89–106, DOI 10.1007/698_2020_621,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020, Published online: 12 July 2020
89
for Bioethanol Production: An Overview
Subramaniapillai Niju and Mani Swathika
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 90
2 Steps Involved in Bioethanol Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3 Different Pretreatment Techniques Employed on SCT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4 Dilute Acid Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5 Alkaline Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6 Ultrasound Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
7 Enzymatic Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
8 Alkaline Hydrogen Peroxide (AHP) Pretreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
9 Hydrolysis Employed in SCT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
10 Acid Hydrolysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
11 Enzymatic Hydrolysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
12 Fermentation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 102
13 Conclusion . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 102
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Abstract Better living standards, population growth, and expanding urbanization
escalate the energy requirement tremendously. Declining stockpile of nonrenewable
fossil fuels and its severe impact on environment have created huge consciousness
among government, researchers, and industries to develop alternative renewable
energy sources. Bioethanol has been considered as one of the most efficient alternative liquid fuels to replace the existing conventional crude oil-based petrol.
Among the different lignocellulosic biomass, agricultural residues especially sugarcane tops (SCT) are becoming a promising feedstock for bioethanol production.
However, the presence of high amount of lignin possesses a major hurdle in
converting this promising feedstock to bioethanol. Hence, this review paper summarizes the various pretreatment methods, hydrolysis, and fermentation techniques
reported in the bioethanol production from underutilized SCT. From the overall
S. Niju (*) and M. Swathika
Department of Biotechnology, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
e-mail: sn.bio@psgtech.ac.in; nijuwillbe@gmail.com
Manuel Jerold, Santhiagu Arockiasamy, and Velmurugan Sivasubramanian (eds.),
Bioprocess Engineering for Bioremediation: Valorization and Management
Techniques, Hdb Env Chem (2020) 104: 89–106, DOI 10.1007/698_2020_621,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020, Published online: 12 July 2020
89