Conversion of Rice Husk into Ethanol by a Novel and Green Approach Using Nano-porous Materials: Process Optimization

The study of producing ethanol from rice husk (a kind of lignocellulosic biomass waste) is an important international research which aims at achieving sustainable development of human society. This research project aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of ethanol production from rice husk by adopting a novel and green approach. The study utilizes ozone to pretreat rice husk before subsequent catalytic conversion of cellulose from rice husk to glucose/ sorbitol which will be further converted to ethanol by an enzymatic approach. The significance and the novelty of the proposed approach lie in the improved product quantity and economics of the subsequent processes.The researchers will optimize the ethanol production process by a systematic investigation of several parameters including the particle size of rice husk, ozone pretreatment condition, slurry solids concentration, type of catalyst, wt% of Pt-loaded in the catalyst, catalyst dose, and hydrogen pressure, temperature and time of catalytic reaction.