Progress in ethanol production from lignocellulose by SSF

Recent reasearch progress and future development of simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) for the production of ethanol using lignocellulosic feedstocks are reviewed. SSF has the advantages of simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation and is one process option for the production of ethanol from lignocellulose, through which the endproduct inhibition to the enzymatic hydrolysis can be reduced and the investment costs can also be reduced. Significant progress has been made with respect to the optimization for pretreatment, lowering the cost of enzymes, and the co-fermentation of both hexoses and pentoses during SSF. Presently, the SSF process for wheat straw as starting materials can be expected to give final ethanol concentration close to 40 g/L.