24 research outputs found
Anaerobic Detoxification of Acetic Acid in a Thermophilic Ethanologen
The liberation of acetate from hemicellulose negatively impacts fermentations of cellulosic biomass, limiting the concentrations of substrate that can be effectively processed. Solvent-producing bacteria have the capacity to convert acetate to the less toxic product acetone, but to the best of our knowledge, this trait has not been transferred to an organism that produces ethanol at high yield. We have engineered a five-step metabolic pathway to convert acetic acid to acetone in the thermophilic anaerobe Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum.
Strain and bioprocess improvement of a thermophilic anaerobe for the production of ethanol from wood
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Development of an advanced process for drying fine coal in an inclined fluidized bed
The objective of this research project was to demonstrate a technically feasible and economically viable process for drying and stabilizing high-moisture subbituminous coal. Controlled thermal drying of coal fines was achieved using the inclined fluidized-bed drying and stabilization process developed by the Western Research Institute. The project scope of work required completion of five tasks: (1) project planning, (2) characterization of two feed coals, (3) bench-scale inclined fluidized-bed drying studies, (4) product characterization and testing, and (5) technical and economic evaluation of the process. High moisture subbituminous coals from AMAX Eagle Butte mine located in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and from Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc. in Healy, Alaska were tested in a 10-lb/hr bench-scale inclined fluidized-bed. Experimental results show that the dried coal contains less than 1.5% moisture and has a heating value over 11,500 Btu/lb. The coal fines entrainment can be kept below 15 wt % of the feed. The equilibrium moisture of dried coal was less than 50% of feed coal equilibrium moisture. 7 refs., 60 figs., 47 tabs
Final Report on Development of Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum for the conversion of lignocellulose to ethanol
This project addressed the need for economical technology for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuels, specifically the conversion of pretreated hardwood to ethanol. The technology developed is a set of strains of the bacterium Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum and an associated fermentation process for pretreated hardwood. Tools for genetic engineering and analysis of the organism were developed, including a markerless mutation method, a complete genome sequence and a set of gene expression profiles that show the activity of its genes under a variety of conditions relevant to lignocellulose conversion. Improved strains were generated by selection and genetic engineering to be able to produce higher amounts of ethanol (up to 70 g/L) and to be able to better tolerate inhibitory compounds from pretreated hardwood. Analysis of these strains has generated useful insight into the genetic basis for desired properties of biofuel producing organisms. Fermentation conditions were tested and optimized to achieve ethanol production targets established in the original project proposal. The approach proposed was to add cellulase enzymes to the fermentation, a method called Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF). We had reason to think SSF would be an efficient approach because the optimal temperature and pH for the enzymes and bacterium are very close. Unfortunately, we discovered that commercially available cellulases are inactivated in thermophilic SSF by a combination of low redox potential and ethanol. Despite this, progress was made against the fermentation targets using bacterial cellulases. Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum may still prove to be a commercially viable technology should cellulase enzyme issues be addressed. Moreover, the organism was demonstrated to produce ethanol at approximately theoretical yield from oligomeric hemicellulose extracts, an ability that may prove to be uniquely valuable in pretreatment configurations in which cellulose and hemicellulose are separated