Production of Ethanol

from Cellulosic
material

By,
C.V.Chandramouli(10904063) &
S.Nivejeetha(10904182)
Under Guidance of
Mr M.Venkatesh Prabhu

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Introduction
 The use of ethanol as an alternative fuel has been steadily
increasing around the world for various purposes.

 Production of ethanol for fuel can decrease the dependent on

fossil fuels, reduce trade deficits, reduce air pollution, and reduce
global climatic change carbon-di-oxide build up.

 Badger ,(2002) reported that unlike gasoline, ethanol is an

oxygenated fuel that contains 35% oxygen, which reduces
particulate NOX emission of combustion.

 Ethanol can be made synthetically from petroleum or microbial

conversion of bio mass material through fermentation

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 Cellulosic resources are in general very wide spread abundance
and outside the human food chain.

 Hence Cellulosic and hemicellulosic are inexpensive agricultural

substrates available and can be easily hydrolyzed to fermentable
sugar using enzymatic or chemical pre treatment method.

 It is reported that production of ethanol can be carried out by

these feed stocks also . Such as
1) Sucrose containing crop like, sugarcane, beet molasses.
2) Starchy materials like corn and wheat
3) Lignocellulosic biomass

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 Cellulose and Hemicellulose molecules consist of high percentage
of sugar molecules, hence the ability to recover and ferment into
ethanol is important for the efficiency and economics of the
process

 Cellulose and Hemicellulose molecules consist of long chains of

glucose molecules, in addition to glucose (6 carbon or Hexose
Sugar), it contains pentose (5 carbon Sugar ).Since 5 carbon
sugars comprised of high percentage of the available sugars, the
ability to recover and ferment into ethanol is important for the
efficiency and economics of the process.

 Rice husk, which are available as agricultural waste, having

Cellulosic contents have the potential for ethanol production.
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 REVIEW
 FEED STOCK SELECTION

TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Sugar Feed Stocks : Sugar materials are in human food chains these
materials are too expensive to use for the ethanol production.

CURRENT TECHNOLOGY
Starch Feed Stocks : Requires a reaction of starch with water to
breakdown starch into fermentable sugars to produce ethanol.

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
Cellulose Feed Stocks: Like sugar molecules, Starch materials are also in
human food chain and are too expensive fortunately, a third alternative exists –
Cellulosic materials.

Badger,P.C.2002.Ethanol from cellulose :Ageneral review.p.17-21.In:J.Janick and

A.Whipkey(eds.),Trends in new crops and new uses.ASHS Press,Alexandria,VA.

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 Energy, especially from fossil fuels, is a key ingredient for all
sectors of a modern economy and plays a fundamental role in
improving the quality of life in less developed economies.
 In 2001, India was ranked sixth in the world in terms of energy
demand; accounting for 3.5% of total energy consumed, and is
expected to grow at 4.8% in the future.
 India imports 70% of the oil it uses, and the country has been hit
hard by the increasing price of oil, uncertainty and environmental
hazards that are concerned with the consumption of fossil fuels.
 In such context, bioenergy constitute a suitable alternative source
of energy for India, as large amounts of raw material are available
to be harnessed

Dr. Jyoti Parikh and Dr. Amit Walia

Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), India.

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Various feed stocks
 Sucrose Containing feed stocks –
Sugar beet, Sugar cane, Sweet sorghum and fruits

 Starchy materials -
Cereals, grains, Potatoes, Cassava etc.,

 Lignocellulosic biomass -
Wood, Agricultural waste, Fibrous plant material etc.,

Carlos A. Cardona.,Oscar j.Sanchez,2007 , Fuel ethanol production: Process design trends and
integration opportunities. Bioresourse technology ,2415-2457
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Scope of The Project
 To identify the high yielding substrate.

 To study the kinetics of ethanol production.

 New process integration to produce ethanol

economically

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