Steam pretreatment of Salix with and without SO2 impregnation for production of bioethanol.

In the wood-to-ethanol process, pretreatment of the material is necessary prior to enzymatic hydrolysis to obtain high overall yields of sugar and ethanol. Steam pretreatment of fast-growing Salix either with or without SO2 impregnation has been investigated by varying different parameters. Overall glucose yields of above 90% and overall xylose yields higher than 80% were obtained both with and without impregnation. However, the most favorable pretreatment conditions for the separate yields of glucose and xylose differed to a lower degree using SO2-impregnated wood chips, resulting in higher total sugar yield than that obtained with non-impregnated wood chips.