초록
<P><B>Abstract</B></P><P><B>BACKGROUND</B></P><P>A method is described that uses dilute phosphoric acid for wheat straw pretreatment and subsequent ethanol and fungal biomass production with the edible fungus <I>Neurospora intermedia</I>. Dilute phosphoric acid pretreatment of wheat straw was optimized at a laboratory scale, and the results were validated in a biorefinery demonstration plant for the first time. The various conditions for the dilute acid pretreatment include such factors as phosphoric acid concentrations (0.5–3.0% w/v), temperature (150–210 °C), and reaction time (5–20 min).</P><P><B>RESULTS</B></P><P>The optimal pretreatment conditions were determined as an acid concentration of 1.75% (w/v) at a temperature of 190 °C for 15 min, based on the maximum enzymatic digestibility with the minimum inhibitor release. The efficiency of enzymatic polysaccharide hydrolysis was 36% for untreated straw and 86% for straw pretreated with dilute phosphoric acid. Scale up of the pretreatment at a biorefinery demonstration plant improved the process, with the subsequent efficiency of polysaccharide hydrolysis being 95% of the theoretical maximum. Ethanol fermentation of enzymatically hydrolyzed wheat straw using <I>N. intermedia</I> showed an improvement in the ethanol yield from 29% (with untreated straw) to 94% (with dilute phosphoric acid pretreated straw) of the theoretical maximum.</P><P><B>CONCLUSION</B></P><P>This study opens up an alternative strategy for the efficient use of wheat straw for the production of ethanol and edible fungal biomass in existing wheat‐to‐ethanol plants. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry</P>