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Optimization of enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation from AFEX-treated rice straw

  • Biotechnological Products and Process Engineering
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Abstract

An abundant agricultural residue, rice straw (RS) was pretreated using ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX) process with less than 3% sugar loss. Along with commercial cellulase (Spezyme® CP) at 15 filter paper unit/g of glucan, the addition of Multifect® Xylanase at 2.67 mg protein/g glucan and Multifect® Pectinase at 3.65 mg protein/g glucan was optimized to greatly increase sugar conversion of AFEX-treated RS. During enzymatic hydrolysis even at 6% glucan loading (equivalent to 17.8% solid loading), about 80.6% of glucan and 89.6% of xylan conversions (including monomeric and oligomeric sugars) were achieved. However, oligomeric glucose and xylose accounted for 12.3% of the total glucose and 37.0% of the total xylose, respectively. Comparison among the three ethanologenic strains revealed Saccharomyces cerevisiae 424A(LNH-ST) to be a promising candidate for RS hydrolysate with maximum ethanol metabolic yield of 95.3% and ethanol volumetric productivity of 0.26 g/L/h. The final concentration of ethanol at 37.0 g/L was obtained by S. cerevisiae 424A(LNH-ST) even with low cell density inoculum. A biorefinery combining AFEX pretreatment with S. cerevisiae 424A(LNH-ST) in separate hydrolysis and fermentation could achieve 175.6 g EtOH/kg untreated rice straw at low initial cell density (0.28 g dw/L) without washing pretreated biomass, detoxification, or nutrient supplementation.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Thomas W. Jeffries for providing the engineered Pichia stipitis strains. We deeply appreciate the valuable suggestions given by both Leonardo daCosta Sousa and Shishir Chundawat during the course of this experiment. The authors are grateful for the financial support from the Michigan State University Research Foundation through SPG grants and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Key Program Grant No. 20736006), the National Basic Research Program of China (“973” Program: 2007CB714301), the International Collaboration Project of MOST(2006DFA62400), and key projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program (No. 2007BAD42B02). We would like to thank Genencor for generously supplying Spezyme® CP cellulase, Multifect® xylanase, and Multifect® pectinase for our research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering of State Education Ministry, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, People’s Republic of China

    Cheng Zhong & Ying-Jin Yuan

  2. Biomass Conversion Research Lab (BCRL), Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, MBI Building, 3900 Collins Road, East Lansing, MI, 48910, USA

    Ming W. Lau, Venkatesh Balan & Bruce E. Dale

  3. National Peiyang Distillation Technology Engineering Limited Company, Tianjin, 300072, People’s Republic of China

    Cheng Zhong

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  1. Cheng Zhong
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  2. Ming W. Lau
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  3. Venkatesh Balan
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  4. Bruce E. Dale
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  5. Ying-Jin Yuan
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Correspondence to Venkatesh Balan.

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Zhong, C., Lau, M.W., Balan, V. et al. Optimization of enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation from AFEX-treated rice straw. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 84, 667–676 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-2001-0

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