Abstract

In this work, the cell growth and ethanol productivity was tested forlignocellulosic biomass sugars of overliming-detoxified and NaOH-neutralized rice straw acid hydrolysate by using Candida shehatae CICC 1766. When the acetic acid reached 3 g/L in defined xylose medium, the final ethanol concentration was 33% of that in the medium without acetic acid addition. C. shehatae CICC 1766 could bear lower pH (ethanol yield 13.5 g/L at pH 4.0) in overliming-detoxified hydrolysate. At the optimal pH 5.0 the ethanol yield attended to 16.1 g/L. Ethanol yield in NaOH-neutralized hydrolysate was 13.7 g/L which is better than in overliming-detoxified hydrolysate (7.0 g/L). It suggested that NaOH-neutralized hydrolysate could be directly fermented by using C shehatae CICC 1766.

Key words: Rice straw, Candida shehatae, hemicellulose hydrolysate, ethanol fermentation