This laboratory scale study aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of thermochemical and biological saccharification of Miscanthus giganteus (MG) for generation of fermentable saccharides and its subsequent fermentation into solvents i.e. acetone, ethanol and butanol (ABE) using Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. Saccharide hydrolysates were derived from MG by thermochemical (water, acid and alkali at 130 °C) and biological saccharification (Fibrobacter succinogenes S85) processes and were subjected to batch fermentation for 120 h using C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824. At the end of fermentation of thermochemically-derived hydrolysates, 742 g m⁻³ of saccharides from water treatment, 9572 g m⁻³ of saccharides from acid treatment and 4054 g m⁻³ of saccharides from alkali treatment were fermented and yielded 0.045, 0.0069 and 0.01 g g⁻¹ of total solvents, respectively. Similarly, at the end of fermentation of biological hydrolysate (using F. succinogenes), 2504 g m⁻³ of saccharides was fermented and yielded 0.091 g g⁻¹ of total solvents. The highest yield of total solvents was achieved by water (thermochemical) and biological saccharification of MG using C. acetobutylicum. Whereas, acid and alkali-treated hydrolysates showed lower yields of solvents presumably due to production of inhibitory compounds during saccharification. Compared to thermochemical saccharification, biological saccharification using F. succinogenes is a promising approach since it yielded the highest amount of solvents whilst being eco-friendly. Our future studies will focus on optimisation of biological saccharification (using F. succinogenes) and sequential co-culture fermentation (using C. acetobutylicum). The development of alternative consolidated bioprocessing approach using biological saccharification will contribute towards making lignocellulosic biofuels a reality.

这项实验室规模的研究旨在证明热芒草（MG）的热化学和生物糖化作用对产生可发酵糖类及其随后使用丙酮丁醇梭菌ATCC 824发酵成丙酮，乙醇和丁醇（ABE）的发酵作用的有效性。通过热化学方法（水，酸和碱在130°C下）和生物糖化反应（琥珀酸纤维杆菌S85）从MG提取，并使用丙酮丁醇梭菌ATCC 824分批发酵120小时。，来自水处理的742克^-3糖，9572克^-3将来自酸处理的糖和来自碱处理的糖的4054 g m ^-3发酵，分别产生0.045、0.0069和0.01 g g ^-1的总溶剂。类似地，在生物水解产物的发酵结束时（使用产^琥珀酸短杆菌），将2504 g m ^-3的糖类发酵，得到0.091 g g ^-1的总溶剂。通过水（热化学法）和使用丙酮丁醇梭菌对MG进行生物糖化，可实现最高总溶剂产量。然而，酸和碱处理的水解产物显示出较低的溶剂产率，这可能是由于在糖化过程中产生了抑制性化合物。与热化学糖化相比，使用琥珀酸短杆菌产生生物糖化是一种有前途的方法，因为它产生了最高量的溶剂，同时对环境友好。我们未来的研究将集中在优化生物糖化（使用琥珀酸短杆菌）和顺序共培养发酵（使用丙酮丁醇梭菌）上。使用生物糖化的替代性合并生物处理方法的发展将有助于使木质纤维素生物燃料成为现实。