Progress in Steam-explosion Pretreatment Technologies and Its Effect on Bioconversion of Cellulosic Ethanol

Lignocellulosic biomass is considered as one of the most promising feedstock for producing fuel ethanol. However, the structure and crystallinity of lignocellulose hamper the accessibility of cellulose enzyme, so that a suitable pretreatment process is necessary. Recently, steam explosion, because of its low cost, low energy consumption and pollution-free has been received substantial attention. The influences of parameters in pretreatment by methods of steam explosion,such as:technologies of dilute acid steam explosion(DASE),dilute base steam explosion(DBSE),ammonia fiber explosion(AFEX)and compound steam explosion are described, and several steam-explosion pretreatments and equipments are discussed. Meanwhile the applied research of pretreatment for bioconversion to ethanol is also reviewed.