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Mimosa, an excellent energy crop candidate because of its high growth yield, also contains, on a dry basis, 0.83% hyperoside and 0.90% quercitrin. Hyperoside has been documented as having anti-inflammatory and diurectic properties, whereas quercitrin may play a role in intestinal repair following chronic mucosal injury. Thus, mimosa might first be extracted for important antioxidant compounds and then used as a feedstock for energy production. This article presents results from studies aimed at determining the effect of three extraction parameters (temperature, solvent composition, and time) on the yield of these important quercetin compounds. Conditions are sought which maximize yield and concentration, whereas complementing subsequent biomass pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation.

In this article, we describe the development of a simple laboratory test for the effective screening of foam control agents on a selected fermentation system, the mass production of Yarrowia lipolytica . Aeration testing is based on sparging air in the foaming medium allowing partial reproduction of the gas-liquid hydrodynamic encountered in bioreactors. “Dynamic sparge test,” for which measurements are made during foam formation, was used to compare the capacity of three antifoams, based on different technologies, to control the foam produced in the fermentation broth. The selected foam control agents were: (1) an organic antifoam (TEGO AFKS911), (2) a silicone-based emulsion containing in situ treated silica (DC-1520) and (3) a silicone/organic blend silica-free formulation. The testing results demonstrated dramatic differences among them and showed that the capacity of TEGO AFKS911 and DC-1520 to control the foam generated in the fermentation broth decreases as a function of fermentation time. This occurred to a much lesser extent for the silicone/ organic blend formulation. These results were correlated with the change of the foam nature and the increase of foam stability of the fermentation broth with culture time. The increase in protein content as a function of growth time was correlated with an increase in foam stability and antifoam consumption. A “synthetic fermentation broth” was also developed, by adding both proteins and microorganism to the culture medium. This allowed us to mimic the fermentation broth, shown by the similar antifoams behaviour, and is therefore a simple methodology useful for the selection of appropriate antifoams.

The transesterification of castor oil with ethanol in the presence of sodium ethoxide as catalyst is an exceptional option for the Brazilian biodiesel production, because the castor nut is quite available in the country. Chemically, its oil contains about 90% of ricinoleic acid that gives to the oil some beneficial characteristics such as its alcohol solubility at 30°C. The transesterification variables studied in this work were reaction temperature, catalyst concentration and alcohol oil molar ratio. Through a star configuration experimental design with central points, this study shows that it is possible to achieve the same conversion of esters carrying out the transesterification reaction with a smaller alcohol quantity, and a new methodology was developed to obtain high purity biodiesel.

In grass cell walls, ferulic acid esters linked to arabinosyl residues in arabinoxylans play a key role in crosslinking hemicellulose. Although such crosslinks have a number of important roles in the cell wall, they also hinder the rate and extent of cell wall degradation by ruminant microbes and by fungal glycohydrolyase enzymes. Ferulic acid esterase (FAE) can release both monomeric and dimeric ferulic acids from arabinoxylans making the cell wall more susceptible to further enzymatic attack. Transgenic plants of Lolium multiflorum expressing a ferulic acid esterase gene from Aspergillus niger , targeted to the vacuole under a constitutive rice actin promoter, have been produced following microprojectile bombardment of embryogenic cell cultures. The level of FAE activity was found to vary with leaf age and was highest in young leaves. FAE expression resulted in the release of monomeric and dimeric ferulic acids from cell walls on cell death and this was enhanced severalfold by the addition of exogenous β-1,4-endoxylanase. We also show that a number of plants expressing FAE had reduced levels of cell wall esterified monomeric and dimeric ferulates and increased in vitro dry-matter digestibility compared with nontransformed plants.

Wood samples from a second generation Populus cross were shown to have different lignin contents and S/G ratios (S: syringyl-like lignin structures; G: guaiacyl-like lignin structures). The lignin contents varied from 22.7% to 25.8% and the S/G ratio from 1.8 to 2.3. Selected samples spanning these ranges were hydrolyzed with dilute (1%) sulfuric acid to release fermentable sugars. The conditions were chosen for partial hydrolysis of the hemicellulosic fraction to maximize the expression of variation among samples. The results indicated that both lignin contents and S/G ratio significantly affected the yield of xylose. For example, the xylose yield of the 25.8% lignin and 2.3 S/G (high lignin, high S/G) sample produced 30% of the theoretical yield, whereas the xylose yield of the 22.7% lignin and 1.8 S/G (low lignin, low S/G) was 55% of the theoretical value. These results indicate that lignin content and composition among genetic variants within a single species can influence the hydrolyzability of the biomass.

Plants generally produce secondary metabolites in nature as a defense mechanism against pathogenic and insect attack. In this study, we applied several abiotic elicitors in order to enhance growth and ginseng saponin biosynthesis in the hairy roots of Panax ginseng . Generally, elicitor treatments were found to inhibit the growth of the hairy roots, although simultaneously enhancing ginseng saponin biosynthesis. Tannic acid profoundly inhibited the hairy root growth during growth period. Also, ginseng saponin content was not significantly different from that of the control. The addition of selenium at inoculum time did not significantly affect ginseng saponin biosynthesis. However, when 0.5 m M selenium was added as an elicitor after 21 d of culture, ginseng saponin content and productivity increased to about 1.31 and 1.33 times control levels, respectively. Also, the addition of 20 µ M NiSO_4 resulted in an increase in ginseng saponin content and productivity, to about 1.20 and 1.23 times control levels, respectively, and also did not inhibit the growth of the roots. Sodium chloride treatment inhibited hairy root growth, except at a concentration of 0.3% (w/v). Increases in the amounts of synthesized ginseng saponin were observed at all concentrations of added sodium chloride. At 0.1% (w/v) sodium chloride, ginseng saponin content and productivity were increased to approx 1.15 and 1.13 times control values, respectively. These results suggest that processing time for the generation of ginseng saponin in a hairy root culture can be reduced via the application of an elicitor.

The overall objective in this European Union-project is to develop cost and energy effective production systems for coproduction of bioethanol and electricity based on integrated biomass utilization. A pilot plan reactor for hydrothermal pretreatment (including weak acid hydrolysis, wet oxidation, and steam pretreatment) with a capacity of 100 kg/h was constructed and tested for pretreatment of wheat straw for ethanol production. Highest hemicellulose (C5 sugar) recovery and extraction of hemicellulose sugars was obtained at 190°C whereas highest C6 sugar yield was obtained at 200°C. Lowest toxicity of hydrolysates was observed at 190°C; however, addition of H_2O_2 improved the fermentability and sugar recoveries at the higher temperatures. The estimated total ethanol production was 223 kg/t straw assuming utilisation of both C6 and C5 during fermentation, and 0.5 g ethanol/g sugar.

The combined effects of inhibitors present in lignocellulosic hydrolysates was studied using a multivariate statistical approach. Acetic acid (0–6 g/L), formic acid (0–4.6 g/L), and hydroquinone (0–3 g/L) were tested as model inhibitors in synthetic media containing a mixture of glucose, xylose, and arabinose simulating concentrated hemicellulosic hydrolysates. Inhibitors were consumed sequentially (acetic acid, formic acid, and hydroquinone), alongside to the monosaccharides (glucose, xylose, and arabinose). Xylitol was always the main metabolic product. Additionally, glycerol, ethanol, and arabitol were also obtained. The inhibitory action of acetic acid on growth, on glucose consumption and on all product formation rates was found to be significant ( p ≤ 0.05), as well as formic acid inhibition on xylose consumption and biomass production. Hydroquinone negatively affected biomass productivity and yield, but it significantly increased xylose consumption and xylitol productivity. Hydroquinone interactions, either with acetic or formic acid or with both, are also statistically significant. Hydroquinone seems to partially lessen the acetic acid and amplify formic acid effects. The results clearly indicate that the interaction effects play an important role on the xylitol bioprocess.

The water-soluble portion and precipitates obtained by supercritical (SC) water treatment of microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel) were enzymatically hydrolyzed. Glucose could be produced easily from both substrates, compared with the Avicel. Therefore, SC water treatment was found to be effective for enhancing the productivity of glucose from cellulose by the enzymatic hydrolysis. It is also found that alkaline treatment or wood charcoal treatment reduced inhibitory effects by various decomposed compounds of cellulose on the enzymatic hydrolysis to achieve higher glucose yields. Furthermore, glucose obtained by SC water treatment followed by the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose could be converted to ethanol by fermentation without any inhibition.

Methods of increasing the enzymatic digestibility of waste newspaper by adding Tween (TW)-20 and 80 surfactants were investigated. Tween-series surfactants were selected because these surfactants increase cellulase activity during enzymatic hydrolysis and do not inhibit cell growth in downstream fermentation processes. When surfactant was used in a pretreatment, a benefic effect was expected in the enzymatic hydrolysis stage owing to surfactant carry-over from the pretreatment stage immediately upstream of the hydrolysis. However, because it was necessary to wash the pretreated substrate with water to remove inhibitors produced during pretreatment, no added benefit was obtained. When surfactant was used in the pretreatment only, it was found that it had a marked effect on digestibility and that this effect was higher at lower enzyme loadings. Also, TW-80 was found to be more effective than TW-20, and the addition of enzyme and TW-80 to substrate at the beginning of enzyme reaction was found to most effectively increase digestibility. When TW-80 was added into either the pretreatment stage or the hydrolysis stage the digestibilities of untreated sample increased by approx 40%, whereas an increase of only 45% was observed when TW-80 was added to both stages. These results show that the addition of surfactant to either the pretreatment or the enzymatic hydrolysis stage is sufficient to increase digestibility.