Improvement of Cellulose Hydrolysis Process and Cost Savings

The hydrolysis process to obtain the so-called “reducing sugars” represents the main step involved in the production of the second generation bioethanol. This product can be obtained directly from various types of green biomass, replacing the use of cereals cultivations, with obvious benefits to the environment and the economy of agricultural production. However, it is necessary to improve the hydrolysis process of the cellulose to achieve this goal. To this purpose, we applied a chemical process formerly used. The values of sugars yield were increased by about 40% with respect to the previous study. Further significant cost savings were accomplished, resulting from the recovery of the by-product, calcium sulfate, commercially known as gypsum.