SIMULTANEOUS SACCHARIFICATION AND FERMENTATION OF PRETREATED HARDWOODS - EFFECT OF NATIVE LIGNIN CONTENT

A series of correlations was made between the performance of 15 wood s pecies in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and the ir respective chemical compositions. A compelling inverse trend (p < 0 .001) was demonstrated between the percent conversion of glucan to eth anol during SSF and the Klason lignin content of the wood samples befo re dilute acid pretreatment. No significant relationships were found b etween the glucan, xylan, and ash compositions of the native wood samp les and ethanol yield. This observation is unique and provides a conve nient predictor of biomass conversion efficiency.