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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Bioenergy Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #271626
Title: Nutrient supplementation key to inhibitor-tolerant yeast development and fermentation performance on switchgrass hydrolyzates

Author
item Slininger, Patricia - Pat
item Liu, Zonglin
item Dien, Bruce

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/9/2011
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Inhibitory compounds generated during acid hydrolysis pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass interfere with subsequent fermentation to ethanol. Tolerant yeast strains have recently been developed by targeted evolution in the presence of biomass hydrolyzate inhibitors. In order to optimize performance, comparative data were collected on both the tolerant and parent strains in experiments testing the impact of nitrogen sources, vitamins, and minerals on ethanol production potential. With respect to optimal ethanol production, a striking difference in the nutritional requirements of parent and adapted strains was observed in both synthetic media and dilute acid hydrolyzates of switchgrass that were supplemented with a variety of commercially available nitrogen sources. Since nutrient availability significantly impacted both ethanol yield and production kinetics, and was strain-dependent, these results suggest the importance of including a nutrient supplementation analysis in the evaluation and ranking of tolerant isolates as well as in the subsequent optimization and design of hydrolyzate fermentation processes.