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Updated: Mar 2, 2026
Techniques for the Evolution of Robust Pentose-fermenting Yeast for Bioconversion of Lignocellulose to Ethanol
Published on: October 24, 2016
Fed-batch hydrolysate addition and cell separation by settling in high cell density lignocellulosic ethanol
Cory Sarks1,2, Mingjie Jin3,4, Venkatesh Balan5,6
1Biomass Conversion Research Laboratory (BCRL), Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, 3815 Technology Boulevard, Lansing, MI, 48910, USA. sarkscor@egr.msu.edu.
Abstract:
The Rapid Bioconversion with Integrated recycling Technology (RaBIT) process uses enzyme and yeast recycling to improve cellulosic ethanol production economics. The previous versions of the RaBIT process exhibited decreased xylose consumption using cell recycle for a variety of different micro-organisms. Process changes were tested in an attempt to eliminate the xylose consumption decrease. Three different RaBIT process changes were evaluated in this work including (1) shortening the fermentation time, (2) fed-batch hydrolysate addition, and (3) selective cell recycling using a settling method. Shorting the RaBIT fermentation process to 11 h and introducing fed-batch hydrolysate addition eliminated any xylose consumption decrease over ten fermentation cycles; otherwise, decreased xylose consumption was apparent by the third cell recycle event. However, partial removal of yeast cells during recycle was not economical when compared to recycling all yeast cells.
