Ultrasound Assisted Saccharification of Saw Dust for the Production of Bioethanol

Lignocellulosic wastes are used as feed stock since are abundantly available. The basic problems involved with bioethanol production from lignocellulosic wastes are high consumption of chemicals used for saccharification, delignification and glucose availability. These problems are considered as important themes of the present study. Ultrasound assisted saccharification was carried out using saw dust as a raw material. The sample was collected, washed, dried, ground, screened, segregated and delignified by acid hydrolysis. Further structural modifications were done using a sonochemical reactor. Saccharification of lignocellulosic wastes was carried out using acid hydrolysis with sulfuric acid. The saccharification experiments were carried out with and without sonication. The results showed that sonication improves the saccharification of cellulosic wastes. Higher yield of glucose was obtained from the medium saccharified using 5% sulfuric acid and sonication.