CELLULOSIC BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION FROM ULVA LACTUCA MACROALGAE

Nowadays, the use of biofuels has become an unavoidable solution to the depletion of fossil fuels and global warming. The controversy over the use of food crops for the production of the first-generation biofuels and deforestation caused by the second-generation ones has forced the transition to the third generation of biofuels, which avoids the use of arable land and edible products, and does not threaten biodiversity. This generation is based on the marine and freshwater biomass, which has the advantages of being abundant or even invasive, easy to cultivate and having a good energetic potential. Bioethanol production from Ulva lactuca, a local marine macroalgae collected from the west coast of Algiers, was examined in this study. Ulva lactuca showed a good energetic potential due to its carbohydrate-rich content: 9.57% of cellulose, 6.9% of hemicellulose and low lignin content of 5.11%. Ethanol was produced following the separate hydrolysis and fermentation process (SHF), preceded by a thermal acid pretreatment at 120 degrees C during 15 min. Enzymatic hydrolysis was performed using a commercial cellulase (Celluclast 1.5 L), which saccharified the cellulose contained in the green seaweed, releasing about 85.01% of the total glucose, corresponding to 7.21 g/L after 96 h of enzymatic hydrolysis at pH 5 and 45 degrees C. About 3.52 g/L of ethanol was produced after 48 h of fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 30 degrees C and pH 5, leading to a high ethanol yield of 0.41 g of ethanol/g of glucose.