Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A simple scaled down system to mimic the industrial production of first generation fuel ethanol in Brazil

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although first-generation fuel ethanol is produced in Brazil from sugarcane-based raw materials with high efficiency, there is still little knowledge about the microbiology, the biochemistry and the molecular mechanisms prevalent in the non-aseptic fermentation environment. Learning-by-doing has hitherto been the strategy to improve the process so far, with further improvements requiring breakthrough technologies. Performing experiments at an industrial scale are often expensive, complicated to set up and difficult to reproduce. Thus, developing an appropriate scaled down system for this process has become a necessity. In this paper, we present the design and demonstration of a simple and effective laboratory-scale system mimicking the industrial process used for first generation (1G) fuel ethanol production in the Brazilian sugarcane mills. We benchmarked this system via the superior phenotype of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae PE-2 strain, compared to other strains from the same species: S288c, baker’s yeast, and CEN.PK113-7D. We trust that such a system can be easily implemented in different laboratories worldwide, and will allow a better understanding of the S. cerevisiae strains that can persist and dominate in this industrial, non-aseptic and peculiar environment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The surface area to volume ratio for an industrial scale reactor is several orders of magnitude lower than in a laboratory reactor; hence the industrial bioreactors used in the mills are perfectly anaerobic. On the contrary, in laboratory scale reactors, diffusion of O2 is inevitable even taking utmost precaution. Moreover, the nitrogen gas brings O2 (present as impurity) along with it and upon transfer to liquid phase amounts to ca. 2 µmol. h−1. 5 ppm O2 in gaseous phases is equivalent to a concentration of 6.6 nM in liquid phase based on Henry’s law. \( {\text{Oxygen transfer rate}} = k_{la} \times C^{*} \times V_{l} = 0.1\times \left( {\frac{1}{s}} \right)\times3600 \left( {\frac{s}{h}} \right)6.6\times 10^{ - 9} \left( {\frac{ mol}{l}} \right)\times1 l = 2.37 \mu mol O_{2} . h^{ - 1} \) k la is the mass transfer coefficient; C * is the saturation concentration of O2 in water; V l is the Volume of medium.

  2. One mol of glucose produces two mol of CO2 which occupies a volume of 44.8 l at standard temperature and pressure. Thus a reactor with a working volume of 500, 000 l containing 1 mol l-1 of glucose will produce \( 500,000\,mol_{glu\cos e} \times 44.8 \left( {\frac{{l_{CO2} }}{{mol_{glu\cos e} }}} \right)\times(\frac{{1m^{3} }}{{1000 l_{CO2} }}) = 22,400\,m^{3}\,of\,CO_{2} \).

References

Download references

Acknowledgements

Otávio do Prado, Ricardo Luiz Dalia, Eliane Christina Mota and Camila de Souza Varize from ESALQ are acknowledged for their assistance during the fed-batch cultivations; Lab manager Mrs Priscila Hofmann Carvalho is thanked for her assistance during the HPLC analysis.

Funding

This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo [Grant Number 2015/14109-0 to AKG] and Programa Nacional de Pós Doutorado—Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [to VR] for the scholarship awarded to him to carry out his postdoctoral research within the ‘Ph.D. program in Bioenergy’, involving the University of Campinas (Unicamp), the University of São Paulo (USP) and the University of the State of São Paulo (Unesp).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Vijayendran Raghavendran

    Present address: Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Food Engineering, LEMeB, University of Campinas, Rua Monteiro Lobato 80, Campinas, SP, 13083-862, Brazil

    Vijayendran Raghavendran, Juliana Bueno da Silva & Andreas Karoly Gombert

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, USP, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Thalita Peixoto Basso & Luiz Carlos Basso

Authors
  1. Vijayendran Raghavendran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thalita Peixoto Basso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Juliana Bueno da Silva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Luiz Carlos Basso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Andreas Karoly Gombert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vijayendran Raghavendran.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical statement

This article does not contain any studies with human participants and/or animals performed by any of the authors. The formal consent is not required in this study.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 354 kb)

Supplementary material 2 (DOCX 26 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Raghavendran, V., Basso, T.P., da Silva, J.B. et al. A simple scaled down system to mimic the industrial production of first generation fuel ethanol in Brazil. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 110, 971–983 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-017-0868-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-017-0868-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation