POONAM MAAN* AND R. S. SENGAR
Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture
and Technology, Meerut-250 110 (Uttar Pradesh), India
*(e-mail : prm.iitr@gmail.com; Mobile : 94124 72292)
(Received : March 10, 2022; Accepted : May 16, 2022)
ABSTRACT
Burning of agricultural residues after harvesting in the rice field has created many health and
environmental issues. Therefore, the main focus of research was to utilize the crop residues for production
of ethanol. The pre-treatment of rice straw using different concentrations of dilute sulfuric acid was
undertaken. 2% H2 SO4 concentration worked as effective for rice straw pre-treatment at 121°C temperature, 15 psi pressure, 60 min time and 5% solid loading. Cellulose fraction of pre-treated rice straw was
increased 25% as compared to control. The acid pre-treated rice straw showed the saccharification
efficiency of 28.5±1.5% after enzymatic saccharification with crude cellulase enzyme in 24 h at dose of
15 IU/g and substrate concentration of 4%.
Key words : Rice straw, valorization, ethanol production, dilute acid pre-treatment