Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Bioenergy Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #297920
Title: Process integration for simultaneous saccharification, fermentation, and recovery (SSFR): Production of butanol from corn stover using Clostridium beijerinckii P260

Author
item Qureshi, Nasib
item SINGH, VIJAY - University Of Illinois
item Liu, Siqing
item EZEJI, T - The Ohio State University
item Saha, Badal
item Cotta, Michael

Submitted to: Bioresource Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/29/2013
Publication Date: 12/7/2013
Citation: Qureshi, N., Singh, V., Liu, S., Ezeji, T.C., Saha, B.C., Cotta, M.A. 2014. Process integration for simultaneous saccharification, fermentation, and recovery (SSFR): Production of butanol from corn stover using Clostridium beijerinckii P260. Bioresource Technology. 154:222-228.

Interpretive Summary: Butanol is a superior biofuel which contains 33% more energy than ethanol. This biofuel can be used in transportation industry and can be mixed with gasoline in any proportion. Until the 1960s, production of butanol from agricultural crops was second only to ethanol in importance and history when it was produced from corn and molasses. Currently, prices of these substrates are high thus making butanol production using these feedstocks uneconomic. Hence, we are focusing on the production of this biofuel from agricultural residues such as corn stover that is available economically in the Midwestern region of the U.S., and using cutting edge science and technology. Use of this feedstock requires breaking it down to simple sugars, followed by conversion to butanol, and recovery in a three step process. In these studies we were able to combine these processes into a single process thus economizing its production. Production of butanol biofuel from agricultural residues would benefit corn growers, biofuel industry, transportation industry, and the United States public.

Technical Abstract: A simultaneous saccharification, fermentation, and recovery (SSFR) process was developed for production of acetone butanol ethanol (AB or ABE), of which butanol is the main product, from corn stover employing Clostridium beijerinckii P260. Of the 86 gL^-1^ corn stover, over 97% of the sugars were released during hydrolysis, which were fermented completely with a productivity of 0.34 gL^-1^.h^-1^ and an AB yield of 0.39. This productivity is higher than 0.31 gL^-1^.h^-1^ when using glucose as a substrate demonstrating that AB could be produced efficiently from lignocellulosic biomass. Acetic acid that was released from the biomass during pretreatment and hydrolysis was also used by the culture to produce AB. An average rate of generation of sugars by corn stover hydrolysis was 0.98 gL^-1^.h^-1^. In this system AB was recovered using vacuum and as a result of simultaneous product recovery 100% sugars were used by the culture.