Yi-Huang Chang, Ku-Shang Chang, Cheng-Wei Huang, Chuan-Liang Hsu, Hung-Der Jang
Yi-Huang Chang, Ku-Shang Chang, Cheng-Wei Huang, Chuan-Liang Hsu, Hung-Der Jang
Yi-Huang Chang, Ku-Shang Chang, Cheng-Wei Huang, Chuan-Liang Hsu, Hung-Der Jang
Fuel
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 31 January 2011
Received in revised form 5 February 2012
Accepted 6 February 2012
Available online 18 February 2012
Keywords:
Cellulosic hydrolysates
Batch fermentation
Fed-batch fermentation
Bioethanol
a b s t r a c t
The optimal conditions for the maximum production of ethanol from cellulosic hydrolysate in batch and
fed-batch cultures were investigated and compared. The pretreated corncob could be converted into
reducing sugar with maximal yields after the enzyme mixtures were fed. After 48 h of hydrolytic reaction,
overall reducing sugar and glucose concentrations reached 0.61 and 0.36 g/g dried substrate, respectively.
Further batch fermentation of cellulosic hydrolysate was performed using batch cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae BCRC 21812, 23.341.1 g/l biomass and 6.923.0 g/l ethanol was obtained. For the fed-batch
fermentation, the effects of feeding glucose concentrations on ethanol fermentation were studied. The
feeding glucose concentration of 30 g/l resulted in a higher ethanol yield than that of 20 g/l and 10 g/l did.
The cell biomass, ethanol yields, and ethanol conversion rate for the fed-batch fermentation, feeding at
30 g/l glucose concentration, were 44.5 g/l, 32.3 g/l and 0.64 g ethanol/g glucose, respectively. The results
indicate that the fed-batch fermentation had a higher ethanol yield than that of the batch fermentation.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
To lessen the worlds dependence on non-renewable resources,
use of agricultural biomass for the production of biofuels such as
bioethanol has drawn much attention to many researchers in the
past few decades. Cellulosic biomass is an ideal source of energy
because it is both renewable and available in large quantities
around the world. However, the process for the production of
ethanol from cellulosic materials is more complicated than its
production from sugar or starch-based ones. Specically, there
are technical and economical impediments in regards to the development of commercial processes that utilize cellulosic biomass.
Technologies that will allow for the cost-effective conversion of
cellulosic biomass into fuels and other chemicals are being developed. These technologies include low-cost thermo or chemical pretreatment, highly effective cellulases and hemicellulases, and
efcient and robust fermentative microorganisms, have made the
commercialization of biofuel production much more promising
[13].
For production of bioethanol, a lower raw material price,
together with a high ethanol yield and efcient enzymes, will decrease the production cost signicantly. Several different pretreatment methods have been used to facilitate the enzymatic
Corresponding authors. Tel.: +886 4 23590121x37306; fax: +886 4 23599059
(C.-L. Hsu), tel.: +886 3 5381183x8482; fax: +886 3 6102342 (H.-D. Jang).
E-mail address: hungder@mail.ypu.edu.tw (H.-D. Jang).
0016-2361/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2012.02.006
167
1.0
(a)
Cellobiose
Glucose
Xylose
Other sugars
Total sugars
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
Treatments
1.0
(b)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0
20
40
60
80
168
6.0
(a)
pH values
5.5
5.0
Hydrolysate w/ 1% glucose
Hydrolysate w/ 2% glucose
Hydrolysate w/ 3% glucose
Hydrolysate w/ 4% glucose
4.5
4.0
50
(b)
40
30
20
Hydrolysate w/ 1% glucose
Hydrolysate w/ 2% glucose
Hydrolysate w/ 3% glucose
10
Hydrolysate w/ 4% glucose
0
0
169
30
(a)
(b)
Glucose
Xylose
Cellobiose
Ethanol
25
20
15
Concentrations (g/l)
10
0
50
(c)
(d)
40
30
20
10
0
0
170
utilized by the yeast strain after 6 d of fermentation when the glucose concentrations in the hydrolysate were 34% (Fig. 3C and D).
Furthermore, considerable quantities of xylose and cellobiose were
also detected, which could not be utilized by the yeast cells. When
the substrate concentration reached 4%, yeast biomass and ethanol
yield were not signicantly increased, suggesting that a considerable inhibitory effect had occurred. In addition, the ethanol yields
were 18.3 and 23.0 g/l when the initial glucose concentrations in
the hydrolysate were 3% and 4%, respectively. Besides, rate of the
conversion of glucose to ethanol was 0.580.61 g ethanol/g glucose, using 34% glucose in the hydrolysate, a signicant higher
amount than that (0.45 g ethanol/g glucose) of Yu and Zhang [1].
To develop an improved culture method for ethanol production
with S. cerevisiae, batch ask cultures were rstly carried out to
determine the suitable substrate concentration of the initial media.
It was found that S. cerevisiae grew with a similar pattern in glucose concentrations up to 4%, indicating a good ability to deal with
osmotic stress. This made it possible to feed concentrated glucose
solution in a discontinuous way during the fed-batch fermentation.
2 d of incubation, and then remained steady thereafter. These results indicated that the yeast grew well on the cellulosic hydrolysate with glucose at a concentration up to 4%. However, cell growth
was greatly repressed when the glucose concentration reached 4%.
Specically, when the glucose concentration increased from 3 to
4%, the yeast cell biomass did not show obvious increase, i.e. from
40.2 to 41.1 g/l. This fact showed that the concentration of glucose
at 4% would inhibit the growth of yeast, due to the halt in cell
biomass.
Fig. 3 shows the change of glucose, xylose and cellobiose concentration, and ethanol yield by S. cerevisiae culture after 6 days
as compared to the initial glucose concentration in the hydrolysate.
In the fermentation using 12% glucose in the hydrolysate, the glucose was exhausted after 2 d, whereas the ethanol production yield
increased rapidly after the rst day of fermentation. This result
indicates that the glucose consumption was consistent with the
time period of ethanol production. As shown in Figs. 3A and B,
the glucose was rapidly used up by the yeast within 2 d, with 1
2% glucose in the hydrolysate. However, 1.24.1 g/l xylose and
1.73.3 g/l cellobiose were detected and could not be utilized by
the yeast cells after 2 d. The fermentation was completed after
2 d. The maximal concentrations of ethanol were 6.9 and 8.5 g/l
for the cultures of 1% and 2% glucose in the hydrolysate, respectively, when the glucose were used up. The fermentation results
suggest that S. cerevisiae could grow well in the hydrolysate medium and achieve virtually complete conversion to ethanol from
glucose in the hydrolysate. However, 810 g/l of glucose was not
6.0
30
(a)
5.8
25
5.4
15
5.2
5.0
10
pH value
5.6
20
4.8
4.6
0
(b)
Glucose
Xylose
Cellobiose
Ethanol
25
Concentration (g/l)
Hydrolysate supplementation
20
15
10
0
0
171
only 15 g/l (Fig. 5B). After the addition of the hydrolysate, the ethanol yields increased and reached the maximum on the second day
of fermentation. Thus, the overall ethanol yields and glucose conversion to ethanol rate were estimated to be 24.0 g/l and
0.60 g ethanol/g glucose. The results of fed-batch culture with initial 2% glucose in hydrolysate and an addition of 3% glucose are
showed in Fig. 6. The cell biomass increased rapidly after the inoculation of S. cerevisiae and reached the maximum (44.5 g/l) on the
second day of fermentation; moreover, the pH of the broth decreased steadily from 5.8 to 5.2 during the fermentation process
(Fig. 6A). After feeding the hydrolysate to the media, the ethanol
yields increased and reached 32.3 g/l at the second day of fermentation. Thus, rate of the conversion of glucose to ethanol was estimated to be 0.64 g ethanol/g glucose. As proposed in this study,
these resulting data were higher than those from the batch culture
system. Furthermore, rate of the conversion of glucose to ethanol
from the fed-batch fermentation in this study was signicantly
higher than that (0.44 g ethanol/g glucose) of the study using the
batch culture of Candida tropicalis [18].
4. Conclusions
As an economical way to produce ethanol from cellulosic substrate, synergetic hydrolysis of cellulase and xylanase mixtures
creates a feasible process that can be used in the production of bioethanol. Bioethanol production with fed-batch fermentation offers
advantages over that with batch fermentation. The conversion rate
6.0
35
30
5.8
25
5.6
5.4
20
5.2
15
5.0
pH value
(a)
10
4.8
5
4.6
0
(b)
Hydrolysate supplementation
Glucose
Xylose
Cellobiose
Ethanol
Concentration (g/l)
25
20
15
10
0
0
172
6.0
50
(a)
5.8
40
5.4
30
5.2
20
5.0
pH value
5.6
4.8
10
4.6
0
Glucose
Xylose
Cellobiose
Ethanol
Hydrolysate supplementation
(b)
35
Concentration (g/l)
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
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