Ethanol fermentation was investigated at the high solids content of the dry dilute sulfuric acid pretreated
corn stover feedstock using an evolutionary adapted Saccharomyces cerevisiae DQ1 strain. The evolutionary
adaptation was conducted by successively transferring the S. cerevisiae DQ1 cells into the inhibitors
containing corn stover hydrolysate every 12 h and finally a stable yeast strain was obtained after 65 days’
continuous adaptation. The ethanol fermentation performance using the adapted strain was significantly
improved with the high ethanol titer of 71.40 g/L and the high yield of 80.34% in the simultaneous saccharification
and fermentation (SSF) at 30% solids content. No wastewater was generated from pretreatment
to fermentation steps. The results were compared with the published cellulosic ethanol
fermentation cases, and the obvious advantages of the present work were demonstrated not only at
the high ethanol titer and yield, but also the significant reduction of wastewater generation and potential
cost reduction.