Abstract
The use of batch and upflow anaerobic reactors filled with polyurethane foam for pure glycerol fermentation was evaluated. The best reactor operational conditions to obtain high yield and productivity of 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) as the main product and the role of the polyurethane foam in the growth and retention of suspended and attached biomass in the reactors were investigated. In the experiment at 30 °C with a batch reactor (700 mL), biomass growth was mostly as immobilized attached cells, and the achieved 1,3-PDO yield was up to 0.58 mol mol-gly−1. In the experiment (30 °C) with an upflow anaerobic reactor (717 mL), glycerol loading rates (gly-LR) ranging from 6.94 to 15.47 g gly L−1 day−1 were applied during a 102-day period. During the operation, average 1,3-PDO yield was 0.47 mol mol-gly−1, reaching a maximum of 0.51 mol mol-gly−1 at gly-LR of 13.57 g gly L−1 day−1. High 1,3-PDO productivity (5.35 to 5.44 g L−1 day−1) was obtained when gly-LR was 13.57 to 15.47 g gly L−1 day−1. Comparing the close yield values in both batch and continuous reactors and based on microbial evaluation, it is concluded that most of the 1,3-PDO generated in the continuous reactor was due to the suspended biomass retained by the foam cubes. The Clostridium genus was the predominant 1,3-PDO producer. Good yields and productivities with packed reactors were attributed to polyurethane foam used for mixed culture growth and retention. Consequently, they are worth considering for 1,3-PDO production from pure glycerol.
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Abbreviations
- 1,3-PDO:
-
1,3-Propanediol
- COD:
-
Chemical oxygen demand
- gly-consumption:
-
Glycerol consumption
- gly-LR:
-
Glycerol loading rate
- HPLC:
-
High-performance liquid chromatography
- HRT:
-
Hydraulic retention time
- IA:
-
Inoculum addition
- IS:
-
Inoculum in suspension
- NCBI:
-
National Center for Biotechnology Information
- NS:
-
Nutritional solution
- NSE:
-
Nutritional solution exchange
- NSE1 + IA and NSE2 + IA:
-
First and second nutritional solution exchange using inoculum addition
- NSE3, NSE4, and NSE5:
-
Third to fifth nutritional solution exchange without inoculum addition
- PUFP:
-
Polyurethane foam pieces
- RID:
-
Refractive index detector
- S-A:
-
Sample of biomass attached
- S-I:
-
Sample of inoculum
- S-S:
-
Sample of suspended biomass
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO-FEDER/EU, CTM-2013-44734-R) and the program Cooperación Interuniversitaria con América Latina UAM-Santander (CEAL-AL/2017-14) with grants to J. L. Sanz. The Brazilian agencies FACEPE (Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco, Process IBPG-0194-3.07/14), CAPES (Ministério da Educação, Programa de Doutorado Sanduíche, Process 88881.134642/2016-01), and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Process 155439/2018-9) provided scholarships to S. T. S. Veras during her Ph.D program at UFPE (3 years) and UAM (1 year) and post-doc program in UFPE (1 year), respectively. FACEPE and CNPq also provided grants to L. Florencio and M. T. Kato to support previous works with glycerol at UFPE. The Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain) and Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE, Brazil) are also acknowledged for their institutional support.
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Conceptualization: Shyrlane T.S. Veras, Lourdinha Florencio, José Luis Sanz; methodology, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft: Shyrlane T.S. Veras; formal analysis: Patricia Rojas; writing—review and editing: Mario T. Kato, José Luis Sanz; Supervision: Lourdinha Florencio, Mario T. Kato, José Luis Sanz; funding acquisition: Lourdinha Florencio, Mario T. Kato, José Luis Sanz; project administration: Mario T. Kato, José Luis Sanz; Resources: Mario T. Kato, José Luis Sanz.
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Veras, S.T.S., Rojas, P., Florencio, L. et al. 1,3-Propanediol production from glycerol in polyurethane foam containing anaerobic reactors: performance and biomass cultivation and retention. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 45662–45674 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10404-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10404-z