SSF COMPARISON OF SELECTED WOODS FROM SOUTHERN SAWMILLS

Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is recognized as an efficient approach to the cost-effective conversion of biomass to f uel ethanol. This methodology takes advantage of the relief in end-pro duct inhibition realized by conducting cellulose hydrolysis and glucos e fermentation in the same well-stirred vessel. In this study, 15 spec ies of hardwoods and softwoods were collected from sawmills located in the Appalachian region of the southern United States. These wood samp les were air-dried to 8-10% moisture, pretreated using a dilute sulfur ic acid cooking scheme at 160 degrees C, exhaustively washed, and appl ied to SSF with Saccharomyces cerevisiae D,A. Although the glucan cont ent of each wood was found to be relatively invariant throughout the s amples tested, hemicellulosic sugar and lignin contents were unique to each wood. These and other differences in chemical composition were r elated to resulting ethanol yields from SSF.