Detoxification of wood hydrolysates with wood charcoal for increasing the fermentability of hydrolysates

An effort was made to develop wood charcoals to remove inhibitors such as furan and phenolic compounds in wood hydrolysates for improving the fermentability of the wood hydrolysate. Wood charcoals prepared at various temperatures were found to selectively remove only the inhibitors without reducing the levels of fermentable sugars. It was also found that the wood charcoals prepared at higher temperature had enhanced ability to remove inhibitors, compared to wood charcoals prepared at lower temperature. The fermentability of the hydrolysates had been improved by the wood charcoal treatment. A closer investigation on the fermentability showed that hydrolysates treated with wood charcoals prepared at higher temperature could attain higher fermentability, compared to hydrolysates treated with wood charcoals prepared at lower temperature. This may be related to the mechanism of removal of inhibitors by the wood charcoals.