Preparation of Physic nut's Branch Using Steam Explosion Pretreatment for Bio-ethanol Production

From the analysis of Physic nut's branch from pruning, the chemical composition of the materials was 42.99% alpha-cellulose, 19.61% pentosan and 24.11% lignin. A consequent preparation of 3 steps was conducted before alcoholic fermentation namely steam explosion (pressure: 17, 19, 21, 23 and 25 kg(f)/cm(2); time: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 min), hot water extraction, and alkali extraction. It was found that the best condition was 21 kg(f)/cm(2), 213 degrees C, and 1 minute with the highest amount of alpha-cellulose at 34.46%, while pentosan and lignin at 7.64% and 20.40%, respectively. After the extraction process with hot water, the amount of alpha-cellulose, pentosan and lignin were reduced to 33.99%, 5.83% and 19.87%, respectively. After the extraction process with alkali, the final amount of alpha-cellulose, pentosan and lignin were 33.11%, 3.36% and 15.32% respectively.