Xylose Fermentation with Clostridium Thermohydrosulfuricum.

摘要

In this study, the fermentation of xylose to ethanol with a thermophilic, strictly anaerobic bacterium, Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum, was examined. The focus of this investigation was on the physiological parameters which most strongly affect the economic feasibility of using this bacterium for industrial ethanol production. In rich medium (containing economically impractical concentrations of yeast extract) yields as high as 0.43 gm ethanol/gm xylose and growth rates of 0.4 to 0.5 hr exp -1 were observed. The predominant by-products of the fermentation were acetate and lactate. Nutritional studies indicated that the cost of the growth medium could be dramatically reduced by replacing most of the yeast extract used with nicotinic acid and vitamin B exp 12 . Ethanol was found to be very inhibitory to growth and ethanol formation. To overcome the problem of inhibition, cells were gradually adapted to high concentrations (up to 4.2%) of ethanol. However, the ethanol yield of adapted cells was typically 30 to 40% less than the yield of non-adapted cells. Environmental parameters such as pH and by-product concentrations had only a slight effect on the ethanol yield produced by tolerant cells. A mutant, selected from an adapted strain, was found to produce 60% less lactate than its parent. This low-lactate producing mutant had a slightly improved ethanol yield. The results obtained with the tolerant, low-lactate producing mutant were used in the design of an industrial-scale fermentation process. An economic evaluation of the process indicates that ethanol production with this bacterium is currently uneconomical. (ERA citation 08:033275)