T51 Integration of first-generation ethanol with biotechnological production of xylitol: A preliminary study on the impact of sucrose supplementation of sugarcane straw hemicellulosic hydrolysate
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Aventine Ballroom ABC/Grand Foyer, Ballroom Level
Mr. Andrés Felipe Hernández1, Mrs. Isabela Almeida Lima Costa1 and Dr. Maria das Graças Almeida Felipe2, (1)Departamento de Biotecnologia, Escola de Engenharia de Lorena, Universidade de São Paulo, Lorena, Brazil, (2)Department of Biotechnology, Engineering School of Lorena - University of São Paulo, Lorena, Brazil
Diversification of the energetic matrix and reduction of fossil fuels dependency are main drivers for biofuels development, particularly second-generation ethanol. It is expected that, in suitable cases, this technology can be integrated to the first-generation ethanol process. Nonetheless, the efficient use of hemicellulose-derived sugars, mainly xylose, remains an important challenge for this technology. Alternative routes have been suggested to use pentoses to produce high-value chemicals, which can support economically the production of low-value biofuels in an integrated biorefinery. Such is the case of biotechnological production of xylitol, a sugar-alcohol with important applications on food, odontological and pharmaceutical industries. This process can also be integrated to the first-generation ethanol technology, through the supplementation of the hemicellulosic hydrolysate with sugarcane juice or molasses, which can provide, among other nutrients, sucrose that can be useful as co-substrate for xylitol production. Thus, a preliminary study (50mL medium in 125mL Erlenmeyer flask, pH 5.5, 30oC, 200rpm, 72h) was performed to evaluate the impact on xylitol production by Candida guilliermondii FTI 20037 of supplementing sucrose (5.0; 10.0 and 15.0gL-1) to the sugarcane straw hemicellulosic hydrolysate (obtained by dilute-acid hydrolysis), containing xylose (57.0gL-1) as main constituent. The highest xylitol yield (0.73gg-1) and productivity (0.57gL-1h-1) were obtained with 10gL-1 of sucrose, representing an improvement of 28.1% and 35.5%, respectively, in comparison with experiment without sucrose supplementation. Further studies will be performed in order to establish the effect of using sugarcane juice or molasses in biotechnological xylitol production from sugarcane straw.

Financial support: FAPESP (2013/27142-0), CNPq - Brazil

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