Produção de etanol de segunda geração a partir de embalagem cartonada longa vida

Abstract

The requirement for new sources and processes to obtain fuels has grown as the society develops. Both in the agricultural and urban zones, the usage of machines, cars and trucks that requires fuel to execute their activities is a growing reality. The second-generation ethanol, produced by vegetable residues, exemplifies the necessity for fuel where new sources have been tested and discovered to obtain the product. Trying to find alternatives for ethanol production, the usage of cardboard inside the “long life carton package” as substrate was idealized. The process was based in the enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of the cellulose contained inside the carton package. Besides the successful obtainment of the ethanol, this process lights up the possibility of reusing large scale generation of residues. In laboratorial scale, two distinct enzymatics complexes were used – Cellic HTec2 and Cellic CTec2 – this complexes determined good conditions for the progress of the idea. Ethanol was obtained in satisfactory quantities in a short period of time. The ethanol was quantified by gas chromatography analysis. The complex Cellic CTec2 offered more prevailing results among others, mainly when the enzyme volume was 600 μL, producing 0,218 g of ethanol from the hydrolysis and fermentation of 2 g of cardboard. The hindrance for the evolution in large scale is set by the high cost of the enzymes or enzymatic complexes used for cellulose degradation. It’s an interesting segment, which needs further studies to give continuity and refine the process of obtaining ethanol from cardboard.