Bioethanol Production from woods with the aid of nanotechnology

Bioethanol production from woody biomass by enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic components and fermentation has attracted much attention. In this process, pretreatment is important to improve enzymatic degradability of cellulose. A milling process is one of the most effective methods for pretreatment, but its high cost has been a problem. Recently we have developed the economically-feasible wet-mechanochemical process as milling pretreatment, which can unravel cellulosic components into nanoscale fibers. Thus-obtained nanofibrous product showed a high enzymatic accessibility, while keeping the cellulose crystalline structure and the lignin content. This process is based on the understanding of the nanoscopic structural characteristics of wood and cellulose.