Populus euramericana is emerging as a viable feedstock for producing bioethanol from renewable resources. Steam explosion pretreatment of P. euramericana can solubilize a significant portion of the hemicellulosic component and enhance the glucose conversion of the remaining cellulose for fermentation into ethanol. In this study, steam explosion condition of P. euramericana is performed in a steam explosion reactor at severity log Ro 4.02 and severity log Ro 4.37. Glucose conversion varied from 72.3% to 80.1% of steam exploded P. euramericana at severity log Ro 4.02 and severity log Ro 4.37. Ethanol yields(%) based on sugar content after enzymatic hydrolysis after 48 h fermentation ranged from 87.0% to 88.4%. As a result, from 100 g of raw material, 14.0 g of ethanol are recovered of 47.3 g available cellulose content. This research of steam explosion pretreatment was a promising method to improve glucose conversion and ethanol yield for bioethanol production.

Introduction
 Materials and Methods
  1 Raw material
  2 Chemical composition of raw material
  3 Steam explosion pretreatment
  4 Enzymatic hydrolysis
  5 Fermentation
 Results and Discussion
  1 Chemical composition
  2 Steam explosion pretreatment
  3 Enzymatic hydrolysis
  4 Fermentation
  5 Mass balance
 References

• Jong-Soo Jo(Department of Interior Materials Engineering, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology)
• Ji Young Jung(Division of Environmental Forest Science and Institute of Agriculture & Life Science)
• Jae-Kyung Yang(Division of Environmental Forest Science and Institute of Agriculture & Life Science) Corresponding author