Seawater as Alternative to Freshwater in Pretreatment of Date Palm Residues for Bioethanol Production in Coastal and/or Arid Areas

Abstract

The large water consumption (1.9-5.9 m(3) water per m(3) of biofuel) required by biomass processing plants has become an emerging concern, which is particularly critical in arid/semiarid regions. Seawater, as a widely available water source, could be an interesting option. This work was to study the technical feasibility of using seawater to replace freshwater in the pretreatment of date palm leaflets, a lignocellulosic biomass from arid regions, for bioethanol production. It was shown that leaflets pretreated with seawater exhibited lower cellulose crystallinity than those pretreated with freshwater. Pretreatment with seawater produced comparably digestible and fermentable solids to those obtained with freshwater. Moreover, no significant difference of inhibition to Saccharomyces cerevisiae was observed between liquids from pretreatment with seawater and freshwater. The results showed that seawater could be a promising alternative to freshwater for lignocellulose biorefineries in coastal and/or arid/semiarid areas.

Engineering Robust Cellulases for Tailored Lignocellulosic Degradation Cocktails

“…It has been estimated that the production of bioethanol in cellulosic biorefineries consumes 1.9-5.8 gallons of freshwater per gallon of bioethanol produced [57,58]. Alternatively, concentrated seawater, representing 97% of the Earth's total water, could represent a cost-effective solution in order to decrease the large volume of used freshwater [59]. Moreover, it would save around 800-2400 million liters of fresh water annually for a biorefinery, which produces 400 million liters of ethanol per year, leading to a reduction in freshwater reservoirs shortening.…”

Next‐Generation Industrial Biotechnology‐Transforming the Current Industrial Biotechnology into Competitive Processes

“…Regarding a large amount of freshwater consumption, it has been reported that there is no significant difference between the growth of S. cerevisiae on freshwater or in seawater during growth on pretreated date palm leaflets . Studies have shown that Halomonas campaniensis ( H. campaniensis ) is able to grow in artificial seawater for poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) production and the seawater can also be used for xylose dehydration to form furfural .…”

Halophiles as Chassis for Bioproduction

“…Seawater, an inexhaustible water source, could be an option for bioproduction. It was reported that no significant difference was observed for growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on freshwater or seawater pretreatment of date palm leaflets for bioethanol production . The possibility of using seawater could at least reduce concerns that ethanol production could waste a lot of precious fresh water.…”