Increasing butanol/acetone ratio and solvent productivity in ABE fermentation by consecutively feeding butyrate to weaken metabolic strength of butyrate loop

In this study, we attempted to increase butanol/acetone ratio and total solvent productivity in ABE fermentations with corn- and cassava-based media, by consecutively feeding a small amount of butyrate/acetate during solventogenic phase to weaken the metabolic strengths in butyrate/acetate closed-loops. Consecutively feeding a small amount of butyrate (a total of 3.0 g/L-broth) is most effective in improving performance of corn-based ABE fermentations, as it simultaneously increased average butanol/acetone ratio by 23 % (1.92–2.36) and total solvent productivity by 16 % (0.355–0.410 g/L/h) as compared with those of control. However, the butyrate feeding strategy could not improve butanol/acetone ratio and total solvent productivity in cassava-based ABE fermentations, where the metabolic strength of butyrate closed-loop had already been very low.