Improvement of very high gravity ethanol fermentation by media supplementation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The final ethanol concentration achieved was increased by 17% (to 103 g ethanol/l) when excess assimilable nitrogen was added to the batch very high gravity (VHG) ethanolic fermentations by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The supplementation of the media with 12 g yeast extract l–1, 0.3 g cell walls l–1, 3 g glycine l–1 and 20 g soya flour l–1 led to halving reduction of the fermentation time to 28 h. The ethanol productivity was enhanced by more than 50% (to achieved value 3.3 g l–1 h–1).     

An acid stable trypsin-chymotrypsin inhibitor from horse gram (Dolichos biflorus)

An inhibitor of trypsin and chymotrypsin was purified from horse gram (Dolichos biflorus) beans. The concentration of the inhibitor which provided total inhibition was 0.27 Μg/Μg tryptic enzyme and 0.46 Μg/Μg chymotryptic enzyme. The inhibitor was stable at 37‡C between pH of 3 to 11 and at 97‡C, upto pH 5.0 only. While the activities were rapidly lost in 0.1N NaO H the loss was only 5 0% in 0.1N HCl when kept for 2 h at 97‡C. On heating at pH 7.8, it remained stable upto 80‡C with a gradual loss in activities at 97‡C and a total loss occurring by autoclaving at 15 psi for 10 min. Reduction of disulphide bonds by 2-mercapto-ethanol, pronase digestion and boiling in the presence of 1 M NaCl led to reduction in the activities. However, the inhibitor was resistant to the action of pepsin and subtilisin and to urea at 37‡C.     

木薯粉与甘蔗汁混合发酵生产高浓度乙醇

对木薯粉和甘蔗汁混合原料进行高温高浓度乙醇发酵的条件进行了优化,在单因素实验的基础上,先应用Plackett-Burman试验设计筛选出影响发酵的重要参数,再利用正交试验设计确定重要因素的最佳水平,即:木薯粉与甘蔗汁的比例为1∶5(W/V),发酵初始pH为4.0～4.5,尿素添加量为0.25%(W/W),硫酸镁添加量为0.04%(W/W)。最后在发酵过程中采用梯度温度控制,可显著提高发酵效率。在技术集成的基础上,进行了2L发酵罐放大实验,经过48h发酵,发酵成熟醪乙醇浓度可达17.84%(V/V),发酵效率达91.82%。     

初始条件对高浓度乙醇连续发酵过程的影响及振荡行为提高发酵效率的机理分析

前期实验在稀释速率为0.027h-1的高浓度乙醇连续发酵过程中,发现了一种长周期、宽振幅的参数振荡现象。本实验进一步考察了不同稀释速率下的连续发酵过程,发现在稀释速率为0.04h-1条件下,也能出现类似的振荡现象;在稀释速率为0.027h-1或0.04h-1的条件下,改变系统的初始状态可以得到振荡和稳态两种不同的发酵过程。比较振荡和稳态过程的实验数据后,发现在稀释速率为0.04h-1的条件下,与稳态过程相比,振荡过程的平均残糖浓度降低了14.8%,平均乙醇浓度提高了12.6%,平均设备生产强度提高了12.3%。进一步分析表明:与稳态过程相比,振荡过程动力学行为不仅存在滞后,而且在相同残糖和乙醇浓度条件下,所对应的平均比生长速率提高了53.8%。     

温度对超高浓度酒精生料发酵体系的影响

通过对超高底物浓度生料发酵中温度的影响研究发现,采用温度梯度的方法可大幅提高酵母的生产效率。以高粱为例,采用35%绝对干物浓度,在新型生料水解酶的配合下,通过合适的逐级降温培养方式,使用普通酒精干酵母,在90h内发酵醪液酒精浓度可达20%(V/V)以上。     

Production of 21% (v/v) ethanol by fermentation of very high gravity (VHG) wheat mashes

Summary Very high gravity wheat mashes containing 300 g or more sugares per liter were prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis of starch and fermented with a commercial preparation of active dry yeast. The active dry yeast used in this study was a blend of several strains ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae. The fermentation was carried out at 20°C at different pitching rates (inoculation levels) with and without the addition of yeast extract as nutrient supplement. At a pitching rate of 76 million cells per g of mash an ethanol yield of 20.4% (v/v) was obtained. To achieve this yeast extract must be added to the wheat mash as nutrient supplement. When the pitching rate was raised to 750 million cells per g of mash, the ethanol yield increased to 21.5% (v/v) and no nutrient supplement was required. The efficiency of conversion of sugar to ethanol was 97.6% at the highest pitching rate. This declined slightly with decreasing pitching rate. A high proportion of yeast cells lost viability at high pitching rates. It is suggested that nutrients released from yeast cells that lost viability and lysed, contributed to the high yield of ethanol in the absence of any added nutrients.     

Parameter oscillations in a very high gravity medium continuous ethanol fermentation and their attenuation on a multistage packed column bioreactor system

The quasi-steady-states, marked by small fluctuations of residual glucose, ethanol, and biomass concentrations, and sustainable oscillations marked by big fluctuations of these monitored fermentation parameters were observed during the continuous ethanol fermentation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae when very high gravity media were fed and correspondingly high ethanol concentrations reached. A high ethanol concentration was shown to be one of the main factors that incited these oscillations, although the residual glucose level affected the patterns of these oscillations to some extent. The lag response of S. cerevisiae to high ethanol stress that causes the shifts of morphology, viability loss, and death of yeast cells is assumed to be one of the probable mechanisms behind these oscillations. It was predicted that the longer the delay of this response was, the longer the oscillation periods would be, which was validated by the experimental data and the comparison with the oscillatory behaviors reported for the ethanologen bacterium, Zymomonas mobilis. Furthermore, three tubular bioreactors in series were arranged to follow a stirred tank bioreactor to attenuate these oscillations. However, exaggerated oscillations were observed for the residual glucose, ethanol, and biomass concentrations measured in the broth from these tubular bioreactors. After the tubular reactors were packed with Intalox ceramic saddle packing, these oscillations were effectively attenuated and quasi-steady-states were observed during which there were very small fluctuations of residual glucose, ethanol, and biomass within the entire experimental run.     

Optimization of an ethanol production medium in very high gravity fermentation

Concentrations of Mg²⁺, glycine, yeast extract, biotin, acetaldehyde and peptone were optimized by a uniform design process for ethanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using non-linear step-wise regression analysis, a predictive mathematical model was established. Concentrations of Mg²⁺ and peptone were identified as the critical factors: 50 mM Mg²⁺ and 1.5% (w/v) peptone in the medium increased the final ethanol titre from 14.2% (v/v) to 17% (v/v) in 48 h.     

Effect of the size of yeast flocs and zinc supplementation on continuous ethanol fermentation performance and metabolic flux distribution under very high concentration conditions

Taking continuous ethanol fermentation with the self‐flocculating yeast SPSC01 under very high concentration conditions as an example, the fermentation performance of the yeast flocs and their metabolic flux distribution were investigated by controlling their average sizes at 100, 200, and 300 µm using the focused beam reflectance online measurement system. In addition, the impact of zinc supplementation was evaluated for the yeast flocs at the size of 300 µm grown in presence or absence of 0.05 g L^?1 zinc sulfate. Among the yeast flocs with different sizes, the group with the average size of 300 µm exhibited highest ethanol production (110.0 g L^?1) and glucose uptake rate (286.69 C mmol L^?1 h^?1), which are in accordance with the increased flux from pyruvate to ethanol and decreased flux to glycerol. And in the meantime, zinc supplementation further increased ethanol production and cell viability comparing with the control. Zinc addition enhanced the carbon fluxes to the biosynthesis of ergosterol (28.6%) and trehalose (43.3%), whereas the fluxes towards glycerol, protein biosynthesis, and tricarboxylic acid cycle significantly decreased by 37.7%, 19.5%, and 27.8%, respectively. This work presents the first report on the regulation of metabolic flux by the size of yeast flocs and zinc supplementation, which provides the potential for developing engineering strategy to optimize the fermentation system. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;105: 935–944. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Metabolite profiling for analysis of yeast stress response during very high gravity ethanol fermentations

A laboratory strain and an industrial strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were grown at high substrate concentration, so-called very high gravity (VHG) fermentation. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) was applied in a batch process using 280 g/L maltodextrin as carbon source. It was shown that known ethanol and osmotic stress responses such as decreased growth rate, lower viability, higher energy consumption, and intracellular trehalose accumulation occur in VHG SSF for both strains when compared with standard laboratory medium (20 g/L glucose). The laboratory strain was the most affected. GC-MS metabolite profiling was applied for assessing the yeast stress response influence on cellular metabolism. It was found that metabolite profiles originating from different strains and/or fermentation conditions were unique and could be distinguished with the help of multivariate data analysis. Several differences in the metabolic responses to stressing conditions were revealed, particularly the increased energy consumption of stressed cells was also reflected in increased intracellular concentrations of pyruvate and related metabolites.     

Improvement of the ethanol productivity in a high gravity brewing at pilot plant scale

A 2³ full factorial design was used to study the influence of different experimental variables, namely wort gravity, fermentation temperature and nutrient supplementation, on ethanol productivity from high gravity wort fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae (lager strain), under pilot plant conditions. The highest ethanol productivity (0.69 g l^–1 h^–1) was obtained at 20°P [°P is the weight of extract (sugar) equivalent to the weight of sucrose in a 100 g solution at 20°C], 15°C, with the addition of 0.8% (w/v) yeast extract, 24 mg l^–1 ergosterol and 0.24% (v/v) Tween 80.     

Very high gravity wort fermentation by immobilised yeast

Using calcium alginate-entrapped yeast, 24% (w/w) wort was successfully fermented within 8 days. This is half the time needed for fermentation by free yeast. The highest ethanol concentration obtained was 10.5% (v/v). When the original wort gravity was increased, the specific rate of ethanol production remained constant 0.16 g gh^–1 and the viability did not fall bellow 95% of living cells. Protection of cell against osmotic stress by gel matrix was also confirmed by trehalose measurement. The maximum intracellular trehalose content in calcium alginate-entrapped yeast was 3 times lower compared to free yeast at 30% (w/w) wort fermentation.     

Role of phosphatidylinositol (PI) in ethanol production and ethanol tolerance by a high ethanol producing yeast

The effect of inositol addition on phospholipids, cell growth, ethanol production and ethanol tolerance in a high ethanol producing Saccharomyces sp were studied. Addition of inositol greatly influenced major phospholipid synthesis. With inositol in the fermentation medium, phosphatidylinositol (PI) content was increased, while phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) were decreased. However, without inositol in the fermentation medium, PI content dropped down within 24 h, then increased, but was lower than in the presence of inositol. When yeast cells had a higher content of PI, they produced ethanol much more rapidly and tolerated higher concentrations of ethanol. During ethanol shock treatment at 18% (v/v) ethanol, yeast cells with a higher concentration of PI lost their viability much more slowly than those with a lower concentration of PI, indicating that the PI content in these yeast cells can play an important role in ethanol production and ethanol tolerance. Fatty acids and ergosterol were not responsible for high ethanol tolerance and high ethanol production in this yeast strain. Received 22 September 1998/ Accepted in revised form 20 December 1998     

高温高浓发酵工业啤酒酵母菌种的构建

高温高浓发酵技术作为一项新兴的啤酒生产技术,它为啤酒生产带来诸多利益的同时,也存在着发酵结束后酵母絮凝性下降、高级醇生成量过高等系列问题。为提高高温高浓发酵条件下酿酒酵母的絮凝性同时降低高级醇的合成能力,首先构建了以酿酒酵母BAT2基因为整合位点过表达FLO5基因的菌株,重组菌株S6-BF的絮凝性达到67.67%,比出发菌株S6提高了29%,而高级醇生成量仅降低5.9%;进一步构建以BAT2基因为整合位点再次过表达FLO5基因的菌株,与出发菌株S6相比,重组菌株S6-BF2的絮凝性提高了63%,达到85.44%,高级醇生成量下降至159.58 mg/L,降低了9.0%;通过弱化线粒体支链氨基酸转氨酶(BAT1)的表达,高级醇的生成量得到进一步的降低,达到142.13 mg/L,比原始菌株S6降低了18.4%,同时重组菌株S6-BF2B1的絮凝性没有受到影响;风味物质的测定结果表明啤酒中醇酯比例较为合理。研究结果对工业啤酒酵母发酵后的沉降分离和提高啤酒风味品质有着重要的意义。     

Observed quasi-steady kinetics of yeast cell growth and ethanol formation under very high gravity fermentation condition

Using a generalSaccharomyces cerevisiae as a model strain, continuous ethanol fermentation was carried out in a stirred tank bioreactor with a working volume of 1,500 mL. Three different gravity media containing glucose of 120, 200 and 280 g/L, respectively, supplemented with 5 g/L yeast extract and 3 g/L peptone, were fed into the fermentor at different dilution rates. Although complete steady states developed for low gravity medium containing 120 g/L glucose, quasi-steady states and oscillations of the fermented parameters, including residual glucose, ethanol and biomass were observed when high gravity medium containing 200 g/L glucose and very high gravity medium containing 280 g/L glucose were fed at the designated dilution rate of 0.027 h⁻¹. The observed quasi-steady states that incorporated these steady states, quasi-steady states and oscillations were proposed as these oscillations were of relatively short periods of time and their averages fluctuated up and down almost symmetrically. The continuous kinetic models that combined both the substrate and product inhibitions were developed and correlated for these observed quasi-steady states.     

超高浓度培养基条件下酵母细胞生长及酒精生成的准稳态动力学研究

在1．5L搅拌式发酵罐中,使用葡萄糖质量浓度分别为120、200、280g／L的培养基进行酿酒酵母Saccharomyces cerevisiae连续发酵生成酒精的动力学研究。研究发现,当培养基中葡萄糖浓度为200和280g／L时,发酵液中残糖浓度、酒精浓度以及菌体生物量从小幅度波动的准稳态发展到大幅度波动的振荡状态。提出了伴有周期性振荡现象准稳态过程的概念,并针对该过程,建立了兼有底物和产物抑制的酵母细胞生长和产物酒精生成动力学模型。     

Acceleration of high gravity yeast fermentations by acetaldehyde addition

In high gravity Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentations containing 300 g glucose l^–1, daily addition of acetaldehyde to a total of 93 mM shortened the time required to ferment the first 250 g glucose l^–1 from 790 h to 585 h. Acetaldehyde feeding had no effect on the ethanol yield but increased by 135%, 78% and 77% the final concentrations of 2,3-butanediol, 2-methylpropanol and acetate, while decreasing that of glycerol by 14%. Controlled acetaldehyde feeding has potential as a technique for accelerating high gravity fuel or industrial ethanol fermentations and may be useful in preventing incomplete fermentations.     

Impact of an acid fungal protease in high gravity fermentation for ethanol production using indian sorghum as a feedstock

This study evaluated the conventional jet cooking liquefaction process followed by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) at 30% and 35% dry solids (DS) concentration of Indian sorghum feedstock for ethanol production, with addition of acid fungal protease or urea. To evaluate the efficacy of thermostable α‐amylase in liquefaction at 30% and 35% DS concentration of Indian sorghum, liquefact solubility, higher dextrins, and fermentable sugars were analyzed at the end of the process. The liquefact was further subjected to SSF using yeast. In comparison with urea, addition of an acid fungal protease during SSF process was observed to accelerate yeast growth (μ), substrate consumption (Q_s), ultimately ethanol yield based on substrate (Y_p/s) and ethanol productivity based on fermentation time (Q_p). The fermentation efficiency and ethanol recovery were determined for both concentrations of Indian sorghum and found to be increased with use of acid fungal protease in SSF process. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 29: 329–336, 2013     

Continuous ethanol production and evaluation of yeast cell lysis and viability loss under very high gravity medium conditions

A combined bioreactor system, composed of a stirred tank and a three-stage tubular bioreactor in series and with a total working volume of 3260 ml, was established. Continuous ethanol production was carried out using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a very high gravity (VHG) medium containing 280 g l⁻¹ glucose. An average ethanol concentration of 124.6 g l⁻¹ or 15.8% (v) was produced when the bioreactor system was operated at a dilution rate of 0.012 h⁻¹. The yield of ethanol to glucose consumed was calculated to be 0.484 or 94.7% of its theoretical value of 0.511 when ethanol entrapped in the exhaust gas was incorporated. Meanwhile, quasi-steady states and non-steady oscillations were observed for residual glucose, ethanol and biomass concentrations for all of these bioreactors during their operations. Models that can be used to predict yeast cell lysis and viability loss were developed.     

Consolidated bioprocessing strategy for ethanol production from Jerusalem artichoke tubers by Kluyveromyces marxianus under high gravity conditions

Aims: Developing an innovative process for ethanol fermentation from Jerusalem artichoke tubers under very high gravity (VHG) conditions. Methods and Results: A consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) strategy that integrated inulinase production, saccharification of inulin contained in Jerusalem artichoke tubers and ethanol production from sugars released from inulin by the enzyme was developed with the inulinase‐producing yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus Y179 and fed‐batch operation. The impact of inoculum age, aeration, the supplementation of pectinase and nutrients on the ethanol fermentation performance of the CBP system was studied. Although inulinase activities increased with the extension of the seed incubation time, its contribution to ethanol production was negligible because vigorously growing yeast cells harvested earlier carried out ethanol fermentation more efficiently. Thus, the overnight incubation that has been practised in ethanol production from starch‐based feedstocks is recommended. Aeration facilitated the fermentation process, but compromised ethanol yield because of the negative Crabtree effect of the species, and increases the risk of contamination under industrial conditions. Therefore, nonaeration conditions are preferred for the CBP system. Pectinase supplementation reduced viscosity of the fermentation broth and improved ethanol production performance, particularly under high gravity conditions, but the enzyme cost should be carefully balanced. Medium optimization was performed, and ethanol concentration as high as 94·2 g l^?1 was achieved when 0·15 g l^?1 K₂HPO₄ was supplemented, which presents a significant progress in ethanol production from Jerusalem artichoke tubers. Conclusions: A CBP system using K. marxianus is suitable for efficient ethanol production from Jerusalem artichoke tubers under VHG conditions. Significance and Impact of the Study: Jerusalem artichoke tubers are an alternative to grain‐based feedstocks for ethanol production. The high ethanol concentration achieved using K. marxianus with the CBP system not only saves energy consumption for ethanol distillation, but also significantly reduces the amount of waste distillage discharged from the distillation system.