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Valorization of empty oil-palm fruit bunch waste for an efficient improvement of succinic acid production by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli

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Abstract

An empty oil-palm fruit bunch (EFB) has been proposed as an alternative lignocellulose with potential to produce bio-succinate. However, studies of succinate production from EFB were sparse. Succinate concentrations and yield reported in published literatures were still low. To be more attractive, the utilization of EFB for bio-succinate at high concentrations and yields was demonstrated in this study. EFB was thermochemically pretreated employing diluted H2SO4, 121 °C for 30 min. After pretreatment, detoxification of EFB black-liquor hemicellulosic hydrolysate exploiting 0.5%(w/v) activated carbon could remove 92.04% furfural and 100% HMF derived from degraded sugars and fatty acids in EFB. Removals of 76.4% acetate and 95.80% phenols from the activated carbon-treated hydrolysate were further achieved by vacuum distillation. The 70%(v/v) detoxified hydrolysate showed the least inhibitory effect on succinate production at the level of 54.8 ± 1.5 g/L by Escherichia coli KJ12201-14 T. Alternatively, 70 g/L acid-pretreated EFB cellulosic solid was hydrolyzed with minimized cellulase and β-glucosidase at a ratio of 15FPU:10CBU/g to release fermentable sugars at 94.02% recovery to produce 32.3 ± 1.6 g/L succinate. A combined fraction of 50%(v/v) detoxified EFB hydrolysate and 70 g/L cellulosic EFB solid was additionally utilized to produce succinate at 72.5 ± 0.8 g/L with a yield of 0.83 ± 0.02 g/g. These concentration and yield attained were highest than those of previous literatures. Our fermentation differs from published reports in the application of low inorganic-salts medium (0.9 g/L) without supplementation of any rich nutrients. These may reduce costs of medium, purification, energy consumption, and waste disposal. Our developed process may be an economically feasible option for future industrial succinate production.

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Acknowledgements

All authors thank Suksomboon Palm Oil Co., Ltd. (Thailand) to provide an oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) waste used throughout this study.

Funding

This work was financially supported by (i) the Suranaree University of Technology (SUT), (ii) the Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), and (iii) the National Science Research and Innovation Fund (NSRF) (project code 90464) under the full-time researcher fellowship (Grant No.61/10/2562), and (iv) the Agricultural Research Development Agency (ARDA) (CRP6305030530).

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  1. Metabolic Engineering Research Unit, School of Biotechnology, Institute of Agricultural Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, 111 University Avenue, Suranaree Sub-District, Muang District, Nakhon Ratchasima, 30000, Thailand

    Panwana Khunnonkwao, Chutchawan Phosiran, Sokra In, Sokha Kory & Kaemwich Jantama

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  1. Panwana Khunnonkwao
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Contributions

KJ conceived, designed, and suggested methodology and research plan, supervised, and performed project administration and funding acquisition. PK investigated experiments, provided methodology, and wrote an original draft of the manuscript. CP, SI, and SK helped in investigating experiments. KJ also analyzed and validated data and edited, reviewed, and finalized the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kaemwich Jantama.

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Khunnonkwao, P., Phosiran, C., In, S. et al. Valorization of empty oil-palm fruit bunch waste for an efficient improvement of succinic acid production by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-03888-5

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