Influence of torrefaction pretreatment for ethanol fermentation from waste money bills

Abstract

Waste money bills (WMB) that are no longer legal tender are nonrecyclable and are generally useless. In this work, we used this cellulose-rich material for ethanol fermentation for the first time. Torrefaction of this nonlignocellulosic waste material was attempted to examine whether such material could benefit from this process as a conventional lignocellulosic material does. Effects of two important parameters, that is, residence times (20, 40, and 60 Min) and temperatures (140, 160, 180, 200, and 220 degrees C), on the torrefaction yield were studied under an inert atmosphere. Glucose and ethanol yields were compared using a factorial experimental design. The highest glucose yield (81.59 mg/mL) was obtained with a torrefaction treatment consisting of 40 min at 180 degrees C, and it was increased 44.89% compared to untreated WMB. Based on ethanol feasibility studies conducted on WMB, this estimated quantity of glucose could be produced for subsequent fermentation to ethanol (38.92 mg/mL) and it was increased 47.92% compared to the untreated sample. The fermentation rate was also enhanced by adding 0.4 mM benzoic acid under anaerobic conditions. It is concluded that production of ethanol from WMB would reduce waste management costs and thus would be profitable.