ABSTRACT
The major bottlenecks in achieving competitive bioethanol fuel are the high cost of feedstock, energy and enzymes employed in pretreatment prior to fermentation. Lignocellulosic biomass has been proposed as an alternative feedstock, but because of its complexity, economic viability is yet to be realized. Therefore, research around non-conventional feedstocks and deployment of bioconversion approaches that downsize the cost of energy and enzymes is justified. In this study, a non-conventional feedstock, inedible wild cassava was used for bioethanol production. Bioconversion of raw starch from the wild cassava to bioethanol at low temperature was investigated using both a co-culture of Aspergillus sp. and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and a monoculture of the later with enzyme preparation from the former. A newly isolated strain of Aspergillus sp. MZA-3 produced raw starch-degrading enzyme which displayed highest activity of 3.3 U/mL towards raw starch from wild cassava at 50°C, pH 5.5. A co-culture of MZA-3 and S. cerevisiae; and a monoculture of S. cerevisiae and MZA-3 enzyme (both supplemented with glucoamylase) resulted into bioethanol yield (percentage of the theoretical yield) of 91 and 95 at efficiency (percentage) of 84 and 96, respectively. Direct bioconversion of raw starch to bioethanol was achieved at 30°C through the co-culture approach. This could be attractive since it may significantly downsize energy expenses.
Subject(s)
Aspergillus/enzymology , Biofuels/supply & distribution , Ethanol/metabolism , Flour , Manihot/chemistry , Starch/metabolism , Aspergillus/classification , Aspergillus/growth & development , Aspergillus/metabolism , Biofuels/economics , Coculture Techniques , Ethanol/economics , Fermentation , Flour/economics , Glucan 1,4-alpha-Glucosidase/metabolism , Hydrogen-Ion Concentration , Manihot/economics , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/growth & development , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolism , Starch/economics , TemperatureABSTRACT
Inedible tubers from Dioscorea sansibarensis (DS) and Pyrenacantha kaurabassana (PK) were found to be suitable feedstock for bioethanol production. Important composition parameters for bioethanol production for DS and PK are dry matter (% fresh tubers) ca. 20 and 6, total carbohydrates % dry weight base (db) ca. 68 and 47 and total protein (% db) ca. 16 and 10, respectively. DS and PK were found to contain inulin and galactomannan as principal polysaccharides (% of total carbohydrate) ca. 90 and 70, respectively. Diluted acid hydrolysis yielded ca. 100% of total reducing sugars. Ethanol yield ca. 56 and 35g/L was obtained at high efficiency through batch fermentation of acid hydrolysate (25% w/v) of DS and PK, respectively. A simple technique of recording and monitoring ethanol through CO2 generated during fermentation correlated strongly with HPLC measurement R(2)=0.99. Thus, tubers from these plants are potential feedstocks for bioethanol production with no competing uses.
Subject(s)
Biofuels , Dioscorea , Ethanol , Plant Tubers , Tracheophyta , Dioscorea/chemistry , Dioscorea/metabolism , Ethanol/chemistry , Ethanol/metabolism , Fermentation , Plant Tubers/chemistry , Plant Tubers/metabolism , Tracheophyta/chemistry , Tracheophyta/metabolismABSTRACT
The thermoanaerobe, Caloramator boliviensis was used to ferment starch hydrolysate from inedible wild cassava to ethanol at 60°C. A raw starch degrading α-amylase was used to hydrolyse the cassava starch. During fermentation, the organism released CO2 and H2 gases, and Gas Endeavour System was successfully used for monitoring and recording formation of these gaseous products. The bioethanol produced in stoichiometric amounts to CO2 was registered online in Gas Endeavour software and correlated strongly (R(2)=0.99) with values measured by HPLC. The organism was sensitive to cyanide that exists in cassava flour. However, after acclimatisation, it was able to grow and ferment cassava starch hydrolysate containing up to 0.2ppm cyanide. The reactor hydrogen partial pressure had influence on the bioethanol production. In fed-batch fermentation by maintaining the hydrogen partial pressure around 590Pa, the organism was able to ferment up to 76g/L glucose and produced 33g/L ethanol.
Subject(s)
Clostridiales/metabolism , Ethanol/metabolism , Manihot/metabolism , Starch/metabolism , Batch Cell Culture Techniques , Biofuels , Biotechnology/methods , Carbohydrate Metabolism , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid , Clostridiales/physiology , Cyanides/metabolism , Fermentation , Flour , Glucose/metabolism , Hydrolysis , Temperature , alpha-Amylases/metabolismABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to characterise and evaluate a wild inedible cassava species, Manihot glaziovii as feedstock for bioenergy production. Tubers obtained from 3 different areas in Tanzania were characterised and evaluated for bioethanol and biogas production. These bioenergy carriers were produced both separately and sequentially and their energy values evaluated based on these two approaches. Composition analysis demonstrated that M. glaziovii is a suitable feedstock for both bioethanol and biogas production. Starch content ranged from 77% to 81%, structural carbohydrates 3-16%, total crude protein ranged from 2% to 8%. Yeast fermentation achieved ethanol concentration of up to 85g/L at a fermentation efficiency of 89%. The fuel energy of the bioethanol and methane from flour-peels mix ranged from 5 to 13 and 11 to 14MJ/kgVS, respectively. Co-production of bioethanol and biogas in which the peels were added to the fermentation residue prior to anaerobic digestion produced maximum fuel energy yield of (15-23MJ/kgVS).
Subject(s)
Biofuels , Biotechnology/methods , Ethanol/metabolism , Gases/metabolism , Manihot/metabolism , Anaerobiosis , Batch Cell Culture Techniques , Cellulose/analysis , Fermentation , Flour/analysis , Lignin/analysis , Methane/analysis , Phenotype , Plant Tubers/metabolism , Polysaccharides/analysis , TanzaniaABSTRACT
A process for the production of high bioethanol titre was established through fed-batch and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (FB-SSF) of wild, non-edible cassava Manihot glaziovii. FB-SSF allowed fermentation of up to 390g/L of starch-derived glucose achieving high bioethanol concentration of up to 190g/L (24% v/v) with yields of around 94% of the theoretical value. The wild cassava M. glaziovii starch is hydrolysable with a low dosage of amylolytic enzymes (0.1-0.15% v/w, Termamyl® and AMG®). The Automatic Gas Potential Test System (AMPTS) was adapted to yeast ethanol fermentation and demonstrated to be an accurate, reliable and flexible device for studying the kinetics of yeast in SSF and FB-SSF. The bioethanol derived stoichiometrically from the CO2 registered in the AMPTS software correlated positively with samples analysed by HPLC (R(2)=0.99).