The extensive application and effectiveness of steam explosion
for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol has
resulted in numerous published studies in recent years. Our previous
research demonstrated that high glucose yields were easily
obtained from duckweed CWM using the cocktail of Celluclast
1.5 (CE) and Novozyme 188 (BG) (Zhao et al., 2012) and this
enzyme cocktail was further optimised to a considerably lower
dosage in conjunction with steam explosion pretreatment (Zhao
et al., 2015). The above glucose yields also indicated the hydrolysis
of most of the starch content. Although steam explosion results in
the formation of undesirable fermentation inhibitors (Pedersen
and Meyer, 2010), it is still considered to be one of the most tractable
and economic approaches to improve ethanol yield and
reduce production cost.