A duckweed, Wolffia arrhiza, was examined for its potential use as a feedstock for ethanol production. The starch contents of its turions, the plant's dormant form, were 43%, whereas that of vegetative frond as the growth form was 13%. The ethanol yield from turions was 0.28 g-ethanol·g-biomass-1 in the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation mode (SSF) using a commercially available cellulase for enzymatic hydrolysis after alkaline / oxidative pretreatment. Ethanol was produced efficiently from starch-rich turions of W. arrhiza, in SSF using the amylase mixture with a comparable yield of 0.25 g-ethanol·g-biomass-1. Ethanol was produced from the vegetative fronds at the yield of 0.16 g-ethanol·g-biomass-1 in the SSF mode using cellulase, although that with the amylase mixture was only 0.07 g-ethanol/g-biomass. These results suggest that W. arrhiza, especially its turions, presents considerably high potential for use as an ethanol production feedstock.
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TAKAI, Y., MISHIMA, D., KUNIKI, M., SEI, K., SODA, S., & IKE, M. (2014). Ethanol Production from Vegetative Fronds and Turions of Wolffia arrhiza. Japanese Journal of Water Treatment Biology, 50(4), 133–140. https://doi.org/10.2521/jswtb.50.133