Comparison of various milling modes combined to the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass for bioenergy production: Glucose yield and energy efficiency

Bagasse is an abundant by-product from sugarcane production that can be used for conversion into biofuels. Nonetheless, the recalcitrant structures of lignocellulosic fibers required a pretreatment prior conversion into biofuels. In this study, four mechanical deconstruction methods were compared in terms of energy demand and energy efficiency at lab scale: BM (ball mill), VBM (vibratory ball mill), CM (centrifugal mill) and JM (jet mill). Results indicate that VBM was more effective compared to BM, JM and CM in enzymatic accessibility and sugars solubilization: VBM-3h > BM-72 h > JM-5000 rpm > CM-0.12 mm. However, preliminary energetic assessment showed that at lab scale, the CM (centrifugal mill) as mechanical fractionation process appears to be the most efficient in terms of energy-efficiency (kg glucose/kWh) compared to BM, VBM and JM. A comparison with literature pretreatments data highlighted that fine and/or ultrafine milling process (BM, VBM, CM) are simpler saccharification technologies, which not required any chemical or water inputs, thus minimizing waste generation and treatment.