Impact of mixed feedstock of wheat straw, willow and Miscanthus on enzymatic hydrolysis and inhibitor production after microwave hydrothermal pre-treatment in Europe

Lignocellulosic feedstocks for biorefinery are likely to be seasonal and the supply of feedstock cellulosic biorefineries remains a challenge. One way overcome this is by utilizing mixed which facilitates maintenance year-round supply. This study investigated impact mixing three industrially relevant feedstocks—wheat straw, willow Miscanthus using two major performance indicators—sugar yield fermentation inhibitor production. A microwave hydrothermal pre-treatment regime 200 °C 5 min was applied each individually 1:1 (w/w) mixes predicted sugar in compared observed values. All resulted improved yields with + (15.4%, p = 0.015) wheat (13.6%, 0.010) showing statistically significant improvement. Saccharification kinetics, production, on yeast metabolic activity growth were no adverse impacts observed. The use hot water based commercial production biofuels unlikely have any effects productivity may indeed prove beneficial.