Bioethanol production from common reed (Phragmites australis) via biological and chemical pretreatments

The present study was aimed at examining the feasibility of using common reed for the production of bioethanol by means of biological and chemical pretreatments. The effectiveness of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), sodium borohydrate (NaBH4), boron oxide (B2O3) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4) for conversion of common reed to ethanol was investigated via chemical pretreatments. 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.