The inhibitory effect of ethanol on ethanol production by Zymomonas mobilis

Summary In an effort to establish the reasons for the limitations in the final ethanol concentration of Zymomonas mobilis fermentation, the effects of CO₂ and ethanol on the fermentation were investigated using continuous and fed-batch cultivation systems. The nucleation and stripping out of CO₂ from the fermenter using diatomaceous earth or nitrogen gas or both exhibited a profound effect on the glucose uptake rate during the early stages of fed-batch fermentation, but did not improve final ethanol yields. The addition of ethanol together with above mentioned experiments confirmed conclusively that ethanol inhibition is responsible for the final ethanol concentration obtainable during Zymomonas mobilis fermentation. The final concentration lies between 90 and 110 gl⁻¹ or approximately 12–15% (v/v) ethanol.     

Effects of ethanol concentration on immobilized Zymomonas mobilis for continuous production of ethanol

The effects of ethanol concentration on the ethanol productivity and activity of immobilized Zymomonas mobilis cells during continuous fermentation of glucose has been studied at various ethanol concentrations. On changing the inlet ethanol concentration, Po, from 0.0 kg/m³ to any other level, 8 h were required to fully experience the effects of a change in Po, whereas 8 h to 2 days, depending on Po, were required to reach the steady state on switching back to the ethanol free medium. The volumetric ethanol productivity decreased from 92.5 to 0.0 kg/m³·h as the ethanol concentration in the bioreactor was changed from 46.3 to 126 kg/m³. The activity of the immobilized cells recovered up to 63% in 2 days even after exposing the cells to 126 kg/m³ of ethanol.     

Simultaneous ethanol production from lactose byKluyveromyces fragilis andZymomonas mobilis

Ethanol production from lactose byKluyveromyces fragilis NRRL 665 in monoculture and coculture with strains ofZymomonas mobilis was studied. One of the strains,Z. mobilis NRRL 1960, when cocultured withK. fragilis, produed 55.2 g/l of ethanol, whereasK. fragilis in monoculture procuded only 36 g/l ethanol from 200 g/l lactose medium. Increased Qp (g ethanol produced/g biomass/h) and Qs (g substrate consumed/g biomass/h) were observed in coculture than in monoculture. However, the residual sugar concentration increased in coculture; this increase might be due to the slow utilization rate of galactose.     

Raisin: A suitable rav material for ethanol production usingZymomonas mobilis

Summary A batch fermentation process for the production of ethanol from raisin usingZymomonas mobilis is described. This process shows significant advantages in ethanol production compared with yeasts, such as, faster fermentation time and higher ethanol productivity and yield. Moreover, fermentation of the raisin extracts byZ. mobilis gave three-fold higher ethanol productivity than of standard synthetic media of the same invert-sugar concentration.     

Effect of calcium chloride on the growth and ethanol production by free cells of Zymomonas mobilis

Summary The effect of calcium chloride concentration on the growth rate and ethanol production using free cells of Zymomonas mobilis was studied. There was no appreciable change in rates of cell mass production and ethanol formation in the medium containing upto 2g/L CaCl₂. On further increase in CaCl₂ concentration, the rates started decreasing. However, the ethanol yield decreased and biomass yield increased with increase in CaCl₂ concentration.     

The effect of pH,temperature and sucrose concentration on high productivity continuous ethanol fermentation using Zymomonas mobilis

Summary A flocculent strain of Zymomonas mobilis was used for ethanol production from sucrose. Using a fermentor with cell recycle (internal and external settler) high sugar conversion and ethanol productivity were obtained. At a dilution rate of 0.5 h^-1 (giving 96% sugar conversion) the ethanol productivity, yield and concentrations respectively were 20 g/l/h, 0.45 g/g and 40 g/l using a medium containing 100 g/l sucrose. At a sucrose concentration of 150 g/l, the ethanol concentration reached 60 g/l. The ethanol yield was 80% theoretical due to levan and fructo-oligomer formation. No sorbitol was detected. This fermentation was conducted at a range of conditions from 30 to 36°C and from pH 4.0 to 5.5.     

Intracellular ethanol and cell viability ofZymomonas mobilis during fed-batch alcoholic fermentation

Summary The effect of intracellular as well extracellular ethanol concentration on the viability ofZymomonas mobilis during a fed-batch fermentation was examined. The cells retained their viability until ethanol attained 69.5 ± 1.55 and 69 ± 1.6g/l for respectively, extracellular and intracellular values.Z. mobilis does not therefore accumulate ethanol in the cells. The number of dead cells increased after exposure to ethanol. The maximal efficiency of the fermentation was 95.5% (3.82 mol of ethanol-mol sucrose).

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Contenu intra-cellulaire en éthanol et viabilité des cellules de Zymomonas mobilis pendant une fermentation éthanolique en milieu non renouvelé à alimentation étagée

Résumé On a examiné l'effet de la concentration en éthanol tant inta- que extra-cellulaire sur la viabilité deZymomonas mobilis pendant une fermentation en milieu non renouvelé à alimentation étagée. Les cellules ont gardé leur viabilité jusqu'à ce que la concentration atteigne 69.5 ± 1.55 et 69 ±a 1.6 g/l respectivement pour les valeurs extra- et intra-cellulaires. Il en résulte queZymomonas mobilis n'accumule pas l'éthanol dans les cellules. Le nombre de cellules mortes augmentait après l'exposition à l'éthanol. L'efficience maximum de la fermentation était de 95.5% (3.82 mol d'éthanol/mol de sucrose).

     

Production of ethanol from sugar cane molasses by Zymomonas mobilis

Summary Zymomonas mobilis strains were compared with each other and with a Saacharomyces cerevisiae strain for the production of ethanol from sugar cane molasses in batch fermentations. The effect of pH and temperature on ethanol production by Zymomonas was studied. The ability of Z. mobilis to produce ethanol from molasses varied from one strain to another. At low sugar concentrations Zymomonas compared favourably with S. cerevisiae. However, at higher sugar concentrations the yeast produced considerably more ethanol than Zymomonas.     

Continuous ethanol production at high glucose concentrations by a passively immobilized Zymomonas mobilis system

Summary The effect of high glucose concentrations on continuous ethanol production by passively immobilized Zymomonas mobilis cells has been studied. High effluent ethanol concentrations always led to low productivities. The maximum ethanol concentration attained was 92.8 g/l (98% glucose conversion) at a dilution rate of 0.14 h^-1 with 200 g/l glucose medium. The observed enhancement of cell immobilization in the fibrous support at high glucose concentrations in the feed input seems to be related to the formation of bacterial filaments.Preliminary results from this work were previously presented at the Second Spanish Conference on Biotechnology (Barcelona, 1988)     

Ethanol production by zymomonas mobilis: Effect of temperature on cell growth,ethanol production and intracellular ethanol accumulation

Summary The kinetic behaviour of Zymomonas mobilis is studied at temperatures from 27 °C to 34.5 °C. Increases of temperature (above a critical value) have a negative effect on the yield of ethanol, mainly by raising the maintenance coefficient. Cell growth is less inhibited by the ethanol accumulation inside the cell than is the fermentative pathway. The specific rate of ethanol production is depressed when the intracellular ethanol concentration is maximal. An increase of temperature enhances this phenomenon.     

Fractal characterisation of the effect of noise on biological oscillations: The biosynthesis of ethanol

Summary Biological reactions which interact with their environment are subject to the influx of noise. Noise introduces randomness and imparts fractal character to the deterministic behavior. A methodology is proposed to compute the fractal dimensions of such reactions. It is applied to the continuous culture of Zymomonas mobilis to produce ethanol. Results show that noise can change the nature of oscillations or induce oscillations in a stationary state. The noise-induced oscillations are aperiodic and fractal in nature. The variation of the fractal dimension with dilution rate and the initial ethanol concentration is presented and discussed in terms of the interaction between process kinetics and the incoming noise.     

Fermentation pattern of sucrose to ethanol conversions by Zymomonas mobilis

General patterns of sucrose fermentation by two strains of Zymomonas mobilis, designated Z7 and Z10, were established using sucrose concentrations from 50 to 200 g/liter. Strain Z7 showed a higher invertase activity than Z10. Strain Z10 showed a reduced specific growth rate at high sucrose concentration while Z7 was unaffected. High sucrose hydrolyzing activity in strain Z7 lead to glucose accumulation in the medium at high sucrose concentrations. Ethanol production and fermentation time depend on the rate of catabolism of the products of sucrose hydrolysis, glucose and fructose. The metabolic quotients for sucrose utilization, q_s, and ethanol production, q_p (g/g·hr), are unsuitable for describing sucrose utilization by Zymomonas mobilis, as the logarithmic phase of growth precedes the phase of highest substrate utilization (g/liter·hr) and ethanol production (g/liter·hr) in batch culture.     

Continuous ethanol production by zymomonas mobilis on an industrial scale

The specific growth rate of the ethanol producing bacterium Zymomonas mobilis was lower in the presence of oxygen than under anaerobic conditions. Aerobically, considerable amounts of acetaldehyde and acetic acid were formed in addition to the normal fermentation products, ethanol and carbon dioxide. This bacterium contains considerable amounts of pentacyclic triterpenoids, mainly 1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydroxypentane-29-hopane. It seems that stability and permeability of the cytoplasmic membrane of this rather ethanol tolerant organism is achieved by the hopanoid content. A continuous culture of Zymomonas mobilis produced 60 g/l ethanol over a test period of 39 days. This strain was used for ethanol production from an enzymatically hydrolyzed wheat starch fraction on an industrial scale of 100 m³.     

A derivative of Zymomonas mobilis ATCC 10988 with impared ethanol production

Summary A derivative of Zymomonas mobilis ATCC 10988 has been isolated from cells treated with acridine orange. This derived strain, designated CU1, was found to have markedly decreased ethanol production and concomitant glucose utilisation capabilities when grown on high concentrations of glucose. Additionally, it was found that CU1 had altered alcohol dehydrogenase activity and also lacks at least one of the natural plasmids of Z.mobilis, the 3kb species.     

Effects of potassium chloride on ethanol production by an osmotolerant mutant of Zymomonas mobilis

The effect of increasing the KCl concentration in the culture medium of an alcoholic fermentation of glucose using the bacterium Zymomonas mobilis was investigated. Data obtained with the wild-type strain (ZM4, ATCC 31821) and with a newly isolated osmotolerant mutant (SBE15) were compared. It was observed that, at high salt concentration, inhibition of growth occured (specific growth rate and biomass yield) while ethanol production (specific ethanol productivity and ethanol yield) was unaffected. In contrast, the specific rate of in-vitro ethanol production, using either cell-free extract or washed cells, was strongly inhibited by increasing the KCl concentration in the incubation mixture. Therefore, it was concluded that the intracellular concentration of KCl was maintained below the inhibitory concentration by an active transport system. In addition, the fermentation performances of the osmotolerant mutant strain were higher than those of the parent strain at all the KCl concentrations tested, suggesting the utility of the former to run ethanolic fermentations in crude industrial media with a high salt content. Furthermore, the fermentation data on media containing added KCl agreed well with those obtained on molasses media, suggesting that the inhibition observed on these media was due to their high osmolality. Correspondence to: J. Baratti     

Flocculating Zymomonas mobilis is a promising host to be engineered for fuel ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass

Whereas Saccharomyces cerevisiae uses the Embden‐Meyerhof‐Parnas pathway to metabolize glucose, Zymomonas mobilis uses the Entner‐Doudoroff (ED) pathway. Employing the ED pathway, 50% less ATP is produced, which could lead to less biomass being accumulated during fermentation and an improved yield of ethanol. Moreover, Z. mobilis cells, which have a high specific surface area, consume glucose faster than S. cerevisiae, which could improve ethanol productivity. We performed ethanol fermentations using these two species under comparable conditions to validate these speculations. Increases of 3.5 and 3.3% in ethanol yield, and 58.1 and 77.8% in ethanol productivity, were observed in ethanol fermentations using Z. mobilis ZM4 in media containing ～100 and 200 g/L glucose, respectively. Furthermore, ethanol fermentation bythe flocculating Z. mobilis ZM401 was explored. Although no significant difference was observed in ethanol yield and productivity, the flocculation of the bacterial species enabled biomass recovery by cost‐effective sedimentation, instead of centrifugation with intensive capital investment and energy consumption. In addition, tolerance to inhibitory byproducts released during biomass pretreatment, particularly acetic acid and vanillin, was improved. These experimental results indicate that Z. mobilis, particularly its flocculating strain, is superior to S. cerevisiae as a host to be engineered for fuel ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass.     

High ethanol productivities using small Ca-alginate beads of immobilized cells of Zymomonas mobilis

Summary Zymomonas mobilis cells were immobilized into small 1 mm diameter beads of Ca-alginate in order to minimize mass transfer limitations and maximize immobilized cell activity. A combination of small bead size with a high cell concentration of 58 g dry wt. cell per lit. bead volume resulted in high ethanol productivities using a newly designed packed bed bioreactor system. Steady-state dilution rates ranging from 0.4 h^-1 to 3.9 h^-1 were run resulting in a maximum productivity of 102 g ethanol/l/h for an inlet substrate concentration of 100 g glu/l and 87% conversion. The bioreactor was run continuously at a fixed dilution rate for 384 h and short intermittent treatment of the beads with CaCl₂ temporarily increased ethanol productivity to a maximum of 116 g ethanol/l/h.     

Evaluation of plastic composite-supports for enhanced ethanol production in biofilm reactors

Biofilms are a natural form of cell immobilization that result from microbial attachment to solid supports. Biofilm reactors with polypropylene composite-supports containing up to 25% (w/w) of various agricultural materials (corn hulls, cellulose, oat hulls, soybean hulls or starch) and nutrients (soybean flour or zein) were used for ethanol production. Pure cultures ofZymomonas mobilis, ATCC 31821 orSaccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 24859 and mixed cultures with either of these ethanol-producing microorganisms and the biofilm-formingStreptomyces viridosporus T7A ATCC 39115 were evaluated. An ethanol productivity of 374g L^–1 h^–1 (44% yield) was obtained on polypropylene composite-supports of soybean hull-zein-polypropylene by usingZ. mobilis, whereas mixed-culture fermentations withS. viridosporus resulted in ethanol productivity of 147.5 g L^–1 h^–1 when polypropylene composite-supports of corn starch-soybean flour were used. WithS. cerevisiae, maximum productivity of 40 g L^–1 h^–1 (47% yield) was obtained on polypropylene composite-supports of soybean hull-soybean flour, whereas mixed-culture fermentation withS. viridosporus resulted in ethanol productivity of 190g L^–1 h^–1 (35% yield) when polypropylene composite-supports of oat hull-polypropylene were used. The maximum productivities obtained without supports (suspension culture) were 124 g L^–1 h^–1 and 5 g L^–1 h^–1 withZ. mobilis andS. cerevisiae, respectively. Therefore, forZ. mobilis andS. cerevisiae, ethanol productivities in biofilm fermentations were three- and eight-fold higher than suspension culture fermentations, respectively. Biofilm formation on the chips was detected by weight change and Gram staining of the support material at the end of the fermentation. The ethanol production rate and concentrations were consistently greater in biofilm reactors than in suspension cultures.This is Journal Paper No. J-16356 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project No. 3253     

A comparative study of glucose conversion to ethanol by Zymomonas mobilis and a recombinant Escherichia coli

Summary Zymomonas mobilis and recombinant Escherichia coli B (pLOI297) were compared in side-by-side batch fermentations using a synthetic cellulose hydrolysate (glucose/salts) medium with pH control at 6.0 and an inoculation cell density of 35–50 mg dry wt. cells/L. At a nominal glucose concentration of 6%, both cultures achieved near maximal theoretical ethanol yields; however, the Z. mobilis fermentation was complete at 13h compared to 33h for the E.coli fermentation. With approx.12% glucose, the Z. mobilis fermentation was complete in 20h with a process yield of 0.49 g ethanol/g added glucose compared to the E. coli fermentation which remained 20% incomplete after 6 days resulting in a process yield of only 0.32 g/g. Nutrient supplementation (10g tryptone/L) resulted in complete fermentation of 12% glucose (pH 6.3) by the recombinant E. coli in 4 days, with a yield of 0.48 g/g.     

Continuous ethanol production by Zymomonas mobilis in a fluidized bed reactor. Part II: Process development for the fermentation of hydrolysed B-starch without sterilization

A continuous fluidized bed reactor operation system has been developed for ethanol production by Zymomonas mobilis using hydrolysed B-starch without sterilization. The operation system consists of two phases. In the first phase macroporous glass carriers in a totally mixed fluidized bed reactor were filled up totally with a monoculture of Z. mobilis by fast computer-controlled colonization, so that in the subsequent production phase no contaminants, especially lactic-acid bacteria, could penetrate into the carrier beads. In the production phase the high concentration of immobilized Z. mobilis cells in the fluidized bed reactor permits unsterile fermentation of hydrolysed B-starch to ethanol at short residence times. This results in wash-out conditions for contaminants from the substrate. Long-term experimental studies (more than 120 days) of unsterile fermentation of hydrolysed B-starch in the laboratory fluidized bed reactor (2.2 l) demonstrated stable operation up to residence times of 5 h. A semi-technical fluidized bed reactor plant (cascade of two fluidized bed reactors, each 55 l) was operated stably at a mean residence time of 4.25 h. Glucose conversion of 99% of the unsterile hydrolysed B-starch was achieved at 120 g glucose/l^–1 in the substrate, resulting in an ethanol concentration of 50 g·l^–1 and an ethanol space-time yield of 13 g·l^–1·h^–1. This is a factor of three compared to ethanol fermentation of hydrolysed B-starch with Z. mobilis in a continuous stirred tank reactor, which can only be operated stably under sterile conditions. Correspondence to: D. Weuster-Botz