The development of a biological pretreatment strategy for the conversion of wheat straw to biofuels or platform chemicals

The increasing concern of energy shortage and environmental pollution attracts worldwide exploration of using sustainable biomaterials for the production of biofuels and biochemicals. Utilising lignocellulosic raw materials for valuable bio-products production is generally considered as a preferred biosynthetic technology. Although various processes have already been proposed, lignocellulose hydrolysis is still remaining as one of the major challenges that prevents wide spread application of lignocellulosic raw materials in biofuel and biochemical production. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of applying soft-rot fungi as a biological pretreatment of wheat straw for the generation of cellulase enzymes and then use the freshly produced enzymes to hydrolyse the fermented wheat straw to a sugar rich hydrolysate. The wheat straw hydrolysate had also been examined for the production of bioethanol and biochemicals, such as succinic acid and itaconic acid. Solid State Fermentations (SSF) of wheat straw were carried out using both Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei. The fermentation conditions, such as moistures content, culture time, addition of nutrients, and modification of wheat straw were optimised for the production of cellulase. In a SSF using autoclaved wheat straw, an enzyme activity of 9.5 FPU/g was achieved. When 0.5% yeast extract and mineral solution were added, the enzyme activities increased to 24.0 FPU/g after 5 days of cultivation. In a SSF of an alkali soaked wheat straw (wheat straw treated with 1% NaOH at 25˚C for 24 hours), 21.8 FPU/g was obtained after just 1-day culture. Optimisation of hydrolysis process led to a hydrolysate containing 59.8 g/L glucose, which was achieved from the hydrolysis of biologically pretreated wheat straw at 18% solid loading, with an enzyme loading rate of 55 FPU/g at 50˚C. Fermentations using the wheat straw hydrolysate resulted in 28.6 g/L ethanol, which was equivalent to 93.4% of theoretic yield. Utilisation of wheat straw hydrolysate for succinic acid production was investigated using recombinant yeast strains. For Saccharomyces cerevisiae D2, the deletion of SDH1 and SDH2 genes enhanced succinic acid production by 68%. Optimisation of fermentation conditions and fermentation scales led to a succinic acid production to around 12 g/L, which was nearly 100-folds of what succinic acid production using the wild S. cerevisiae D2 strain at initial fermentation conditions. Use wheat straw hydrolysate to replace commercial glucose based semi-defined medium resulted in the same succinic acid production yield, but lower concentration due to the low sugar concentration in the hydrolysate. Biosynthesis of itaconic acid using wheat straw hydrolysate was also explored, but no significant itaconic acid production was observed

A solid state fungal fermentation-based strategy for the hydrolysis of wheat straw

This paper reports a solid-state fungal fermentation-based pre-treatment strategy to convert wheat straw into a fermentable hydrolysate. Aspergillus niger was firstly cultured on wheat straw for production of cellulolytic enzymes and then the wheat straw was hydrolyzed by the enzyme solution into a fermentable hydrolysate. The optimum moisture content and three wheat straw modification methods were explored to improve cellulase production. At a moisture content of 89.5%, 10.2 ± 0.13 U/g cellulase activity was obtained using dilute acid modified wheat straw. The addition of yeast extract (0.5% w/v) and minerals significantly improved the cellulase production, to 24.0 ± 1.76 U/g. The hydrolysis of the fermented wheat straw using the fungal culture filtrate or commercial cellulase Ctec2 was performed, resulting in 4.34 and 3.13 g/L glucose respectively. It indicated that the fungal filtrate harvested from the fungal fermentation of wheat straw contained a more suitable enzyme mixture than the commercial cellulase

A new HPLC method for simultaneously measuring chloride, sugars, organic acids and alcohols in food samples

This paper introduces an original, rapid, efficient and reliable HPLC method for the accurate and simultaneous quantification (g/L) of chloride in samples containing sugars, organic acids and alcohols. Separation was achieved using a HI-Plex H column at 35oC, with H2SO4 (0.005 N) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. The column effluent was monitored by a Refractive Index (RI) detector. A linear response was achieved over NaCl concentrations of 0.25 – 2.5 g/L and 5 – 40 g/L. The analytical method inter- and intra-run accuracy and precision were better than ±10.0%. Investigating the mechanism of detection using different chloride and sodium s reviled that this method can be used for determining the total concentration of chloride salts when in suspension. This method was successfully applied to 15 samples of commercial food products and the salt content obtained from this method was compared with 3 other methods for salt determination. The (HI-Plex H) column was designed for determining the concentrations of sugars, organic acids and alcohols when in solution. Hence, application of our new methodology would allow the determination of sugars, alcohols and organic acids in samples derived from seawater-based fermentation media as well as samples from salty food and dairy products

The development of a biological pretreatment strategy for the conversion of wheat straw to biofuels or platform chemicals

The increasing concern of energy shortage and environmental pollution attracts worldwide exploration of using sustainable biomaterials for the production of biofuels and biochemicals. Utilising lignocellulosic raw materials for valuable bio-products production is generally considered as a preferred biosynthetic technology. Although various processes have already been proposed, lignocellulose hydrolysis is still remaining as one of the major challenges that prevents wide spread application of lignocellulosic raw materials in biofuel and biochemical production. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of applying soft-rot fungi as a biological pretreatment of wheat straw for the generation of cellulase enzymes and then use the freshly produced enzymes to hydrolyse the fermented wheat straw to a sugar rich hydrolysate. The wheat straw hydrolysate had also been examined for the production of bioethanol and biochemicals, such as succinic acid and itaconic acid. Solid State Fermentations (SSF) of wheat straw were carried out using both Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei. The fermentation conditions, such as moistures content, culture time, addition of nutrients, and modification of wheat straw were optimised for the production of cellulase. In a SSF using autoclaved wheat straw, an enzyme activity of 9.5 FPU/g was achieved. When 0.5% yeast extract and mineral solution were added, the enzyme activities increased to 24.0 FPU/g after 5 days of cultivation. In a SSF of an alkali soaked wheat straw (wheat straw treated with 1% NaOH at 25˚C for 24 hours), 21.8 FPU/g was obtained after just 1-day culture. Optimisation of hydrolysis process led to a hydrolysate containing 59.8 g/L glucose, which was achieved from the hydrolysis of biologically pretreated wheat straw at 18% solid loading, with an enzyme loading rate of 55 FPU/g at 50˚C. Fermentations using the wheat straw hydrolysate resulted in 28.6 g/L ethanol, which was equivalent to 93.4% of theoretic yield. Utilisation of wheat straw hydrolysate for succinic acid production was investigated using recombinant yeast strains. For Saccharomyces cerevisiae D2, the deletion of SDH1 and SDH2 genes enhanced succinic acid production by 68%. Optimisation of fermentation conditions and fermentation scales led to a succinic acid production to around 12 g/L, which was nearly 100-folds of what succinic acid production using the wild S. cerevisiae D2 strain at initial fermentation conditions. Use wheat straw hydrolysate to replace commercial glucose based semi-defined medium resulted in the same succinic acid production yield, but lower concentration due to the low sugar concentration in the hydrolysate. Biosynthesis of itaconic acid using wheat straw hydrolysate was also explored, but no significant itaconic acid production was observed

Advanced Generation of Bioenergy

Bioenergy has become one of the most promising renewable energy alternatives to fossil-based energy. Many scientific tools have been developed to enhance the conversion of biomass to biofuels. Novel plant breeding and cropping technologies have been used to develop and produce energy crops to meet the growing demand for the next generation biomass feedstocks. In this chapter, the classification of biofuels based on the first and advanced generations will be covered. In addition, recent developments made in the production of cellulosic biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass will also be discussed