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Toxicological challenges to microbial bioethanol production and strategies for improved tolerance

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Abstract

Bioethanol production output has increased steadily over the last two decades and is now beginning to become competitive with traditional liquid transportation fuels due to advances in engineering, the identification of new production host organisms, and the development of novel biodesign strategies. A significant portion of these efforts has been dedicated to mitigating the toxicological challenges encountered across the bioethanol production process. From the release of potentially cytotoxic or inhibitory compounds from input feedstocks, through the metabolic co-synthesis of ethanol and potentially detrimental byproducts, and to the potential cytotoxicity of ethanol itself, each stage of bioethanol production requires the application of genetic or engineering controls that ensure the host organisms remain healthy and productive to meet the necessary economies required for large scale production. In addition, as production levels continue to increase, there is an escalating focus on the detoxification of the resulting waste streams to minimize their environmental impact. This review will present the major toxicological challenges encountered throughout each stage of the bioethanol production process and the commonly employed strategies for reducing or eliminating potential toxic effects.

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Acknowledgment

Funding for this review was provided by the Georgia Institute of Technology, Renewable BioProducts Institute Paper Science and Technology Fellowship and an Oak Ridge National Laboratory Laboratory Directed Research and Development grant. Additional funding was provided by the Bioenergy Science Center (BESC), which is a U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center supported by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the DOE Office of Science. This manuscript has been authored by a contractor of the U.S. Government under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Renewable BioProducts Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Hannah Akinosho & Arthur Ragauskas

  2. BioEnergy Science Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Hannah Akinosho, Thomas Rydzak & Arthur Ragauskas

  3. Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, MS6342, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831-6342, USA

    Thomas Rydzak, Abhijeet Borole & Dan Close

  4. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Abhijeet Borole & Arthur Ragauskas

  5. Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Abhijeet Borole

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  1. Hannah Akinosho
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  2. Thomas Rydzak
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Correspondence to Dan Close.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest and that they have performed these studies in accordance with acceptable ethical procedures

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This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

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Akinosho, H., Rydzak, T., Borole, A. et al. Toxicological challenges to microbial bioethanol production and strategies for improved tolerance. Ecotoxicology 24, 2156–2174 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-015-1543-4

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