Estudo da hidrólise enzimática do caroço de açaí (euterpe oleraceae mart) para a produção de etanol

Abstract

The use of Acai seed (Euterpe oleracea Mart), for energy purposes has been little studied, therefore we sought in this work to study the production of second generation ethanol from enzymatic hydrolysis of core açai in natura and treated with solvent two temperature conditions (60 to 70 °C). The enzyme β-glucosidase used in this study as technical specifications (Table 5). The Açai core samples, passed through washing, drying at ambient temperature, in an oven with air circulation at 105 ± 5 °C until constant weight, grinding and solvent treatment. The moisture content and the yield on a wet basis of acai core "in natura" was 39.59 and 60.41%. Morphological analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), allowed to analyze the structure and the presence of chemical elements (C, O, Si and Al) in the core and fiber. The -ethanoic acid extract of acai seed showed satisfactory capacity (82%) to scavenge free radicals (antioxidant activity), against free radical DPPH. As a result of the enzymatic hydrolysis process, the core acai without treatment (CANT60) proved to be a promising lignocellulosic biomass to obtain second generation ethanol, it contains a high cellulose content (40.29%), besides presenting good income in the release of glucose (13.687 g L-1) after enzymatic hydrolysis. The average ash content for CANT and CAT were 0.15 and 0.13%. Treatment with acai core of the solvent in the conversion of cellulose into glucose, the yield was below 25%, in both temperature conditions (60 to 70 °C), it was not able to disrupt the plant wall biomass in particular cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, making fermentable sugars available on the enzymatic hydrolysis process, because of possible inhibitors generated during the treatment. By analyzing the experimental data, we can say that the best condition of enzymatic hydrolysis of acai core was CANT60 and glucose obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of acai seed was well assimilated by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for ethanol production.