Dilute acid hydrolysis of presscakes from silage and grass to recover hemicellulose-derived sugars.

Grass and silage presscakes from various types of raw materials were hydrolyzed with dilute acid at moderate conditions to recover hemicellulose-derived sugars. Extracting the material with cold water prior to hydrolysis significantly increased the yield. The poor performance without extraction was due to the high buffer capacity of the material. The best results were obtained with extracted grass and silage from a permanent pasture and extracted clover/grass silage. The highest observed sugar yield was 16.43 g/100 g dry-matter, which represents approximately 25% of the available sugars and 60% of the hemicellulose fraction. Including the soluble sugar oligomers, the yields were even higher (up to 20 g/100 g dry-matter). A statistical experiment design with extracted clover/grass silage was performed to estimate the effects of temperature, time, and dry-matter concentration. Acid and dry-matter concentration had the highest effect on sugar yield, whereas temperature and acid concentration were mainly responsible for forming sugar degradation products. These findings agree with recent kinetic theories. Yields in this experiment were comparable to those of other lignocellulosic materials.

Thermophilic production of lactic acid using integrated membrane bioreactor systems coupled with monopolar electrodialysis.

The thermophilic Bacillus strain BS119 was selected for this study to demonstrate the long term performance of lactic acid production and simultaneous pre-purification. Integrated continuous cell recycle cultivation using ultra-filtration membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems was investigated. The permeate from the MBR was routed to an on-line electrodialysis (ED) to recover, pre-purify and concentrate lactate. The cultivation and ED was operated at 60 degrees C for more than 1,000 h at a pH of 6.5. At lower dilution rate (0.02 h(-1)), lactate concentration reached a maximum of 55 g l(-1) with clearly lower residual glucose levels. At 0.04 h(-1), lactate concentration was significantly lower at 35 g l(-1). Maximal volumetric productivities of 1.38 g l(-1) h(-1) were achieved. Under stable conditions, lactic acid yield on consumed glucose appeared stable at around 80%. It could be demonstrated that the addition of supplements like yeast extract and peptone severely influences product formation. Integration of mono-polar ED with the MBR systems yields lactate solutions with concentrations of up to 115 g l(-1). Because of the low substrate feed concentrations (less than 50 g l(-1)), lactate flux was rather poor, reaching a low maximum of 140 g m(-2) h(-1); nevertheless, stack energy consumption was positive with an average of 0.49 kWh kg(-1) lactate.

Thermophilic lactic acid production on hemicellulose hydrolysate.

Lactic acid has many applications. It can be utilised as road-deicing agent, in the food industry or--after polymerisation--as a biodegradable plastic. The use of lignocellulose biomass will significantly increase the competitiveness of lactic acid-based polymers compared to conventional petroleum based plastics. The Institute for Agrobiotechnology in Tulln (IFA-Tulln) developed a process to apply renewable resources as cheap feedstock for production of lactic acid. The utilisation of thermophiles combined with a suitable pretreatment method enables a fermentation under non sterile conditions with detoxified hemicellulosic hydrolysates. This paper presents growth toxicity tests and batch experiments with bagasse hydrolysate, which were conducted to determine the fermentability of thermophilic wild type strains.