Monday, May 2, 2011
Grand Ballroom C-D, 2nd fl (Sheraton Seattle)
Consolidated BioProcessing (CBP) is a promising lignocellulose processing strategy with the potential for significant economic savings compared with other technologies. One of the most promising CBP organisms is the cellulose-degrading thermophile Clostridium thermocellum. However, this organism does not produce ethanol in high yield and will require metabolic engineering to eliminate other products of fermentation. A meticulous mass balance has been performed on C. thermocellum fermentations of soluble and insoluble substrates. The research has demonstrated production of several compounds not previously reported, including significant production extracellular free amino acids. Data will be presented describing these mass balances and the products found during the course of several fermentations. This work was facilitated by fermentation system which includes an automated system for taking aseptic, anaerobic samples based upon fermentation time or in response to online measurements. This automated sampling system will be described and employed to determine cell specific rates of cellulose utilization and product production.