Optimization of Parameters for Sugar Releasing from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Author(s): Jwan J Abdullah, Roger N Ibbett, Darren Greetham, Chenyu Du and Gregory A. Tucker

Treatment of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) becomes an increasing problem worldwide; however, MSW contains high lignocellulosic content that can be further processed for the generation of electricity, transportation fuel and other commercially important products. This study aims to explore the possibility of hydrolyzing MSW into a sugar solution, which could then be fermented into liquid biofuels, such as bioethanol. Two commercial cellulase enzymes, Cellic® CTec2, and a fresh prepared fungal filtrate were used to hydrolyse MSW. Results revealed that CTec2 displayed the best hydrolysis efficiency. Use of an alkali pre-treatment on MSW before enzymatic hydrolysis failed to show any improvement in terms of release of sugars, an assessment of the efficacy of addition of surfactants revealed that addition of tween 80 or polyethylglycol had a no significant effect on release of sugars. Results revealed that by increasing the solid liquid ratio the amount of glucose increased, Data generated by this study was analysed using design expert stat program.