Research on development of farm/field-deployable bioreactor process for conversion of biomass to saccharides and ethanol

The abundance of non-food plant biomass and food processing wastes that can be employed for ethanol production prompted the conceptualization of ‘farm/field-deployable’ microbial bioreactor process to utilize feedstock generated in the farm/field for production of ethanol. To address the high cost of saccharifying enzymes for the process, this study selected a high beta-glucosidase yielding biomass hydrolyzing Trichoderma species SG2 for enzyme production for the bioreactor process. Trichoderma SG2 co-produces essential biomass hydrolyzing enzymes with amylase and is a candidate organism for on-site/in-house enzyme production using inexpensive substrates. In a comparative study Trichoderma species SG2 produced more beta-glucosidase and beta-xylosidase than the industrial strain Trichoderma RUT-C30. Some metal ions stimulated enzymes activity and substantially improved biomass saccharification. Addition of expired bread or starch to lignocellulose biomass saccharification displayed an additive effect in that the sugar yield increased compared to the saccharification of each substrate alone. In comparison with centrifugation, sand filtration effectively separated fungal mycelia from crude enzyme without substantially altering enzyme activities. In-house crude enzyme production and supplementation with commercial enzyme at a fraction of recommended dosage can potentially reduce enzyme cost. To validate our process, a tailor-made 250L “all-in-one” pilot-scale farm/field deployable bioreactor was constructed. A U.S. non-provisional patent application # 14205779 was filed for our process.