Production of fuel ethanol from bamboo by concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis followed by continuous ethanol fermentation

► The conditions of concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis were optimized. ► A simulated moving bed recovered 98.4% of sugar and 90.5% of sulfuric acid. ► Saccharified liquid supplemented with CSL and salts can be fermented stably. ► A prospective candidate process for the production of bioethanol from bamboo. An efficient process for the production of fuel ethanol from bamboo that consisted of hydrolysis with concentrated sulfuric acid, removal of color compounds, separation of acid and sugar, hydrolysis of oligosaccharides and subsequent continuous ethanol fermentation was developed. The highest sugar recovery efficiency was 81.6% when concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis was carried out under the optimum conditions. Continuous separation of acid from the saccharified liquid after removal of color compounds with activated carbon was conducted using an improved simulated moving bed (ISMB) system, and 98.4% of sugar and 90.5% of acid were recovered. After oligosaccharide hydrolysis and pH adjustment, the unsterilized saccharified liquid was subjected to continuous ethanol fermentation using Saccharomycescerevisiae strain KF-7. The ethanol concentration, the fermentation yield based on glucose and the ethanol productivity were approximately 27.2g/l, 92.0% and 8.2g/l/h, respectively. These results suggest that the process is effective for production of fuel ethanol from bamboo.