LAUSR

Abstract The need for further production increase of biofuel feature in many of the decarbonization road maps set by various international treaties. This manuscript summarises the studies carried out to test the scalability of the Shell patented reversible acid pretreatment process using α-hydroxyethane sulfonic acid (HESA) on ensiled sweet sorghum from lab to pilot scale, and its effect on the hydrolysis and fermentation for the production of cellulosic ethanol in shake flasks. Results show the potential of HESA for industrial application. Pretreatment using 4.5% HESA was successfully scaled up from 2 L batch to 1,100 L continuous process at 1.5 Tones/day. Consistent results across the different scales showed overall yield for xylose and glucose above 80% and the highest ethanol fermentation yield on monomers (94%) obtained with the material generated at pilot scale with more than 95% of all monomeric sugars consumed.