Material Flow of Cellulose in Rice Straw to Ethanol and Lignin Recovery by NaOH Pretreatment Coupled with Acid Washing

Agricultural residues could become feedstocks for biobased products as they are renewable, carbon neutral, and do not compete with food. In India, > 130 MT rice straw is available annually for alternate uses. Exploiting this abundant biomass for biochemical production will pave way for bio-based economy. Rice straw is highly recalcitrant due to lignin-carbohydrate complex and high ash. For production of value added products, the cellulose fraction is very important and also lignin can be used. However, for overall economic efficiency, it is imperative to separate and recover these fractions maximally from biomass and convert them into high value products at high titers and efficiency. Biomass has to be deconstructed to access these fractions. An improvised pretreatment with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) coupled with acidified water wash enabled high retrieval of cellulose and lignin. More than 80