Conversion of lignocellulosic agave residues into liquid biofuels using an AFEX™-based biorefinery.

Background: Agave-based alcoholic beverage companies generate thousands of tons of solid residues per year in Mexico. These agave residues might be used for biofuel production due to their abundance and favorable sustainability characteristics. In this work, agave leaf and bagasse residues from species and were subjected to pretreatment using the ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX) process.

Evaluation of agave bagasse recalcitrance using AFEX™, autohydrolysis, and ionic liquid pretreatments.

A comparative analysis of the response of agave bagasse (AGB) to pretreatment by ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX™), autohydrolysis (AH) and ionic liquid (IL) was performed using 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, wet chemistry, enzymatic saccharification and mass balances. It has been found that AFEX pretreatment preserved all carbohydrates in the biomass, whereas AH removed 62.4% of xylan and IL extracted 25% of lignin into wash streams.