Detoxification of hydrolysate by reactive-extraction for generating biofuels

We introduce a reactive extraction to detoxify hydrolysate before fermentation to biofuels. In the selection of diluents, n-octanol showed the highest removal yield of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) and levulinic acid. The removal yields of inhibitors were normalized to 30-min reactions. In treatments with pure extractant or diluents, only 2 ～ 4.1% of the formic acid was removed. Tri-n-octylamine (extractant) removed levulinic acid and acetic acid more efficiently, and furfural was removed more efficiently than formic acid or 5-HMF. n-Octanol (polar diluent) removed levulinic acid and acetic acid, furfural, and 5-HMF at 21.2, 33.7, and 65.7%, respectively. In contrast, kerosene (inert diluent) only removed the furfural by 27.6%. Based on these results, the optimum reactiveextraction system comprised tri-n-octylamine as the extractant, n-octanol as the polar diluent, and kerosene as the inert diluent. The optimal proportion of complex extractant was 20% trialkylamine, 70% n-octanol, and 10% kerosene. By detoxification, 63.9% of acetic acid and levulinic acid, 24.4% of 5-HMF, 63.9% of formic acid, and 64.0% of furfural could be removed.