Paper Authors and Title
Tsz Ching Chan (South East Technological University), Sinéad Morris, “An examination of pre-treatment technologies to enhance the bioethanol production of rye”
Abstract
Rye (Secale cereale) may be a suitable candidate to address the growing demand for bioethanol production, due to its low production costs and having a low competition in the food market. However, rye-based alcohol has shown a lower alcohol yield compared to other cereal crops with similar starch contents. This study investigates the feasibility of various pre-treatment methods to enhance alcohol production of rye and their effectiveness, including enzyme, acid, alkali, and thermal treatment. It was found that the enzyme pretreatment with β-glucanase was the most effective method (p<0.001), which increased the alcohol yield by approximately 48%.Further investigations on the enzyme pre-treatment process were also performed. It was found that the temperature was the most significant factor affecting the yields of the β-glucanase pre-treatment. This study may provide a starting point for optimising rye-based bioethanol productions for practical implementations.