Current ethanol production processes using crops (sugar cane and corn) as feedstock are well-established but their energy cost is high and the need to develop more feasible technologies is evident. Ethanol production from low-cost feedstocks such as food processing residues, agricultural and forest wastes will be required. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most promising raw material considering its great availability and limited cost. However, cellulose and hemicellulose polymers are recalcitrant to many pre-treatments and the large-scale commercial production of fuel ethanol from lignocellulosic substrates has still not been implemented. Recent works have proposed the one-step microbial conversion of biomass into fuel since simultaneous microbial hydrolysis and fermentation of lignocellulosic material could allow the cost-effective production of ethanol. This study focused on ethanol production using wheat bran as a model of abundant agricultural by-product. The project aimed to develop an economically feasible one-step bioconversion of bran into ethanol through: (1) the definition of cheap pre-treatments characterized by high sugar efficiency and easy industrial applicability; (2) the isolation, improvement and possible modification of microrganisms in order to obtain a strain suitable for industrial scale ethanol production; (3) the fermentation of wheat bran hydrolysates by strains previously selected on the basis of their high ethanol performance. This study shows the great potential of wheat bran as a low-cost feedstock for bioethanol. This starchy-cellulosic substrate was efficiently converted into fuel through the combination of simple pre-treatments and highly fermenting yeasts. Moreover, wild-type microrganisms with desired properties for both cellulose hydrolysis and fermentation were selected. Microbiological and biochemical techniques confirmed their interesting hydrolytic and technologically related characters. In addition, a metabolic engineering approach was conducted in order to improve and enhance the hydrolysing activity of few specifically selected yeasts with industrial fermentative traits. On the basis of the obtained preliminary results, this approach could be considered as promising in view of the development of a one-step ethanol-production from cheap and abundant agricultural by-products.

Using agricultural by-products to produce bioethanol

BASAGLIA, MARINA;FAVARO, LORENZO;CASELLA, SERGIO
2010

Abstract

Current ethanol production processes using crops (sugar cane and corn) as feedstock are well-established but their energy cost is high and the need to develop more feasible technologies is evident. Ethanol production from low-cost feedstocks such as food processing residues, agricultural and forest wastes will be required. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most promising raw material considering its great availability and limited cost. However, cellulose and hemicellulose polymers are recalcitrant to many pre-treatments and the large-scale commercial production of fuel ethanol from lignocellulosic substrates has still not been implemented. Recent works have proposed the one-step microbial conversion of biomass into fuel since simultaneous microbial hydrolysis and fermentation of lignocellulosic material could allow the cost-effective production of ethanol. This study focused on ethanol production using wheat bran as a model of abundant agricultural by-product. The project aimed to develop an economically feasible one-step bioconversion of bran into ethanol through: (1) the definition of cheap pre-treatments characterized by high sugar efficiency and easy industrial applicability; (2) the isolation, improvement and possible modification of microrganisms in order to obtain a strain suitable for industrial scale ethanol production; (3) the fermentation of wheat bran hydrolysates by strains previously selected on the basis of their high ethanol performance. This study shows the great potential of wheat bran as a low-cost feedstock for bioethanol. This starchy-cellulosic substrate was efficiently converted into fuel through the combination of simple pre-treatments and highly fermenting yeasts. Moreover, wild-type microrganisms with desired properties for both cellulose hydrolysis and fermentation were selected. Microbiological and biochemical techniques confirmed their interesting hydrolytic and technologically related characters. In addition, a metabolic engineering approach was conducted in order to improve and enhance the hydrolysing activity of few specifically selected yeasts with industrial fermentative traits. On the basis of the obtained preliminary results, this approach could be considered as promising in view of the development of a one-step ethanol-production from cheap and abundant agricultural by-products.
2010
Proceedings of 3rd World Congress of Industrial Biotechnology.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/2437633
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