| Project Name: | Sawdust Derived Molasses for Animal Feed |
|---|---|
| BPA Number: | 1805-02 |
| Funding Round: | 22/23 |
| Report(s): | Report held in Scion database |
| For enquiries contact: | Karl Murton |
| Phone: | 07 343 5899 |
| Email: | karl.murton@scionresearch.com |
Summary of Project and Key Findings:
This small BPA pilot-scale trial is an essential step in the commercialisation of the sawdust to molasses conversion process. Too determine the viability of the current process two key questions need to be answered.
- What is the sugar yield obtained converting sawdust into molasses, (all previous work was carried out on wood chips), and
- What solids (sugar) concentration is required to prevent mould growth. This will enable transport and storage conditions to be determined.
This study has shown that;
Sawdust processed through the Scion molasses production unit produced a liquid stream containing 40 g/L of sugar with the bulk of the sugars in oligomeric form. This is a yield of 40 kg per oven dry tonne of sawdust. The sugar yield from sawdust was approximately 1.2% lower than sugar yields obtained from chips using the same pretreatment conditions
The minimum inhibitory concentration of the wood molasses was determined using a fungal assay and a series of liquid samples for a range of solids contents up to 72%. No fungal growth was observed for samples with greater than 30% total solids for both the two and four-week assessments
Fungal growth was arrested at 37% total solids in the wood molasses with 100% reduction in colony forming units indicating the molasses was fungicidal at this concentration. Food grade molasses with a sugar content of 70.3 g / 100 mL was only partially fungicidal after 4 weeks with a 99.97% reduction in colony forming units.
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