TY - JOUR
T1 - The additive free microwave hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass for fermentation to high value products
AU - Fan, Jiajun
AU - Santomauro, Fabio
AU - Budarin, Vitaliy L.
AU - Whiffin, Fraeya
AU - Abeln, Felix
AU - Chantasuban, Tanakorn
AU - Gore-Lloyd, Deborah
AU - Henk, Daniel
AU - Scott, Roderick J.
AU - Clark, James
AU - Chuck, Christopher J.
PY - 2018/10/10
Y1 - 2018/10/10
N2 - Current biorefineries are predominantly based around single feedstock sources, extensively hydrolysed using multiple unit operations. The hydrolysate is generally converted to a single product by one of a few well-characterised organisms. Here, we report on a new approach to the biorefinery, combining a rapid, microwave heated, one-step depolymerisation process, with a yeast, Metschnikowia pulcherrima which is able to metabolise an array of oligo- and monosaccharides. During the investigation it was found that the microwave hydrolysis process was able to solubilize upto 50% wheat straw biomass by weight, mainly as oligosaccharides though also containing mixtures of pentose, hexose and anhydro-sugars with concentrations of up to 2 g L-1. However, a fine balance between elevated monosaccharide yields and the production of inhibitive compounds had to be struck with optimal microwave hydrolytic conditions found to be 190 °C. Further testing utilizing several different types of lignocellulosic biomass demonstrated it was possible to attain ~65% carbon efficiency in the conversion of Laminaria saccharina to hydrolysis products. The system was scaled to 600 mL using DDGS successfully solubilizing 66% of the feedstock, producing 33 g L-1 hydrolysate. M. pulcherrima grew well on this hydrolysate in a controlled stirred tank bioreactor (2L), yielding 8.38 g L-1 yeast biomass, a yeast biomass coefficient of 0.25. This presents an exciting, feedstock agnostic, pathway to the energy efficient production of a wide variety of commercially valuable chemical products without the need for extensive pre and post processing technologies.
AB - Current biorefineries are predominantly based around single feedstock sources, extensively hydrolysed using multiple unit operations. The hydrolysate is generally converted to a single product by one of a few well-characterised organisms. Here, we report on a new approach to the biorefinery, combining a rapid, microwave heated, one-step depolymerisation process, with a yeast, Metschnikowia pulcherrima which is able to metabolise an array of oligo- and monosaccharides. During the investigation it was found that the microwave hydrolysis process was able to solubilize upto 50% wheat straw biomass by weight, mainly as oligosaccharides though also containing mixtures of pentose, hexose and anhydro-sugars with concentrations of up to 2 g L-1. However, a fine balance between elevated monosaccharide yields and the production of inhibitive compounds had to be struck with optimal microwave hydrolytic conditions found to be 190 °C. Further testing utilizing several different types of lignocellulosic biomass demonstrated it was possible to attain ~65% carbon efficiency in the conversion of Laminaria saccharina to hydrolysis products. The system was scaled to 600 mL using DDGS successfully solubilizing 66% of the feedstock, producing 33 g L-1 hydrolysate. M. pulcherrima grew well on this hydrolysate in a controlled stirred tank bioreactor (2L), yielding 8.38 g L-1 yeast biomass, a yeast biomass coefficient of 0.25. This presents an exciting, feedstock agnostic, pathway to the energy efficient production of a wide variety of commercially valuable chemical products without the need for extensive pre and post processing technologies.
KW - Bio-refinery
KW - Fermentation
KW - Integrated technology
KW - Microwave hydrolysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85053157881&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.088
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.088
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85053157881
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 198
SP - 776
EP - 784
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
ER -