Monday, May 5, 2008
7-23

Continuous fermentation of all corn fibre sugars using Thermoanaerobacter BG1

Marie J. Mikkelsen and Birgitte K. Ahring. BioGasol ApS, Lautrupvang 2A, DK-2750 Ballerup, Denmark

Corn fibre, a co-product from the production of ethanol from corn kernels, is produced in greater and greater amounts as the production of ethanol increases. The corn fibre is very rich in xylose and arabinose and ethanol production from these sugars is therefore instrumental if the fibre is to be used efficiently for ethanol production.  Thermoanaerobacter BG1 has been shown to be a very efficient ethanol producer in wheat straw hydrolysates containing mostly glucose and xylose, with ethanol yields of up to 0.42 g/g from glucose and xylose combined. The strain is able to grow in non-detoxified wheat straw hydrolysates and to produce ethanol from a wide range of sugars in continuous reactor systems. The growth temperature of 70 degrees C efficiently prevents contamination and thereby reactor downtime due to cleaning and sterilization. Recently we have shown that BG1 mutants are able to efficiently and simultaneously convert glucose, xylose and arabinose from corn fibre efficiently into ethanol in continuous reactor systems. This opens the possibility of generating more ethanol from corn kernels, and at the same time maintain a by-product rich in protein.


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