Abstract: Inhibitors such as formic acid, acetic acid, furfural and HMF in the steam-exploded corn stover had been removed by ethanol extraction. The extraction efficiencies of inhibitors and sugars between dynamic extraction and static extraction were compared. Meanwhile, the effects of temperature, solid to liquid ratio and time on extraction efficiency in the course of static ethanol extraction had also been investigated. Based upon the results of analysis of variance of orthogonal experiment, using the ratio of total inhibitors extraction rate to total sugars extraction rate as evaluation index, the optimum experiment conditions for static ethanol extraction were obtained with the temperature 80℃, solid to liquid ratio 1:10(g:mL) and extraction time 60min. Under the optimum conditions, the extraction rates of the two most important inhibitors, namely formic acid and acetic acid, were up to 84% and 98%,respectively.

Key words: steam explosion, corn stover, inhibitor, ethanol extraction, detoxification