Abstract
Objective
To investigate the inhibiting effect of formic acid on acetone/butanol/ethanol (ABE) fermentation and explain the mechanism of the alleviation in the inhibiting effect under CaCO3 supplementation condition.
Results
From the medium containing 50 g sugars l−1 and 0.5 g formic acid l−1, only 0.75 g ABE l−1 was produced when pH was adjusted by KOH and fermentation ended prematurely before the transformation from acidogenesis to solventogenesis. In contrast, 11.4 g ABE l−1 was produced when pH was adjusted by 4 g CaCO3 l−1. The beneficial effect can be ascribed to the buffering capacity of CaCO3. Comparative analysis results showed that the undissociated formic acid concentration and acid production coupled with ATP and NADH was affected by the pH buffering capacity of CaCO3. Four millimole undissociated formic acid was the threshold at which the transformation to solventogenesis occurred.
Conclusion
The inhibiting effect of formic acid on ABE fermentation can be alleviated by CaCO3 supplementation due to its buffering capacity.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51378486, 51508547, 21606229, 31600475), the Science and Technology Project of Huaian (HAS2015035), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (2016A030310124), the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (2016A010104009, 2016A010105016), Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (2015290).
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Qi, G., Xiong, L., Lin, X. et al. CaCO3 supplementation alleviates the inhibition of formic acid on acetone/butanol/ethanol fermentation by Clostridium acetobutylicum . Biotechnol Lett 39, 97–104 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-016-2231-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-016-2231-z