To determine the viability of the BNCH obtained after saccharification using the fungal consortium enzyme, the hydrolysate obtained from the stem was tested for bioethanol production. The stem part was selected because the highest SY was obtained for this part of the biomass and because, after the pretreatment, residual lignin is lower here (4%) than in a mixture of flower and leaf parts (6.9%).
The final ethanol concentration obtained with the hydrolysate was 7.6 g/L, corresponding to a 68.9% sugar conversion (Fig. 3).
The ethanol concentration obtained with uncontaminated biomass was 7.71 g/L, which was similar to the concentration obtained from phytoremediated SF biomass.
The hydrolysate obtained from B. napus biomass used for the phytoremediation of heavy metal contamination is thus highly efficient in sugar conversion and can be used for bioethanol production.