Bioethanol production from carbohydrate-enriched residual biomass obtained after lipid extraction of Chlorella sp. KR-1.

The residual biomass of Chlorella sp. KR-1 obtained after lipid extraction was used for saccharification and bioethanol production. The carbohydrate was saccharified using simple enzymatic and chemical methods using Pectinex at pH 5.5 and 45°C and 0.3N HCl at 121°C for 15min with 76.9% and 98.2% yield, respectively, without any pretreatment. The residual biomass contained 49.7% carbohydrate consisting of 82.4% fermentable sugar and 17.6% non-fermentable sugar, which is valuable for bioethanol fermentation. Approximately 98.2% of the total carbohydrate was converted into monosaccharide (fermentable+non-fermentable sugar) using dilute acid saccharification. The fermentable sugar was subsequently fermented to bioethanol through separate hydrolysis and fermentation with a fermentation yield of 79.3%. Overall, 0.4g ethanol/g fermentable sugar and 0.16g ethanol/g residual biomass were produced.