Fermentability of water-soluble portion to ethanol obtained by supercritical water treatment of lignocellulosics.

The water-soluble (WS) portion obtained by supercritical water treatment of lignocellulosics was studied for its fermentability to ethanol. A fermentation test of the WS portion showed it was not fermented to ethanol. Therefore, a wood charcoal treatment was applied to the WS portion to remove furan and phenolic compounds, which are thought to be the inhibitors to sugar fermentability. It was found that treatment with wood charcoal can be effective at removing these inhibitors and improving the fermentability of the WS portion without reducing the levels of fermentable sugars.