Adapted feeding strategies in fed-batch fermentation improve sugar delivery and ethanol productivity

Bioethanol is a renewable fuel widely used in road transportation and is generally regarded as a clean energy source. Although fermentation is one of the major processes in bioethanol production, studies on improving its efficiency through operational design are limited, especially compared to other steps (pretreatment and hydrolysis/saccharification). In this study, two adapted feeding strategies, in which feed medium addition (sugar delivery) was adjusted to increase the supply of fermentable sugar, were developed to improve ethanol productivity in 5-L fed-batch fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Specifically, a linear adapted feeding strategy was established based on changes in cell biomass, and an exponential adapted feeding strategy was developed based on cell biomass accumulation. By implementing these two feeding strategies, the overall ethanol productivity reached 0.88$$0.04 and 0.87$$0.06 g/L/h, respectively. This corresponded to ~20% increases in ethanol productivity compared to fixed pulsed feeding operations. Additionally, there was no residual glucose at the end of fermentation, and final ethanol content reached 95$$3 g/L under the linear adapted operation and 104$$3 g/L under the exponential adapted feeding strategy. No statistical difference was observed in the overall ethanol yield (ethanol-to-sugar ratio) between fixed and adapted feeding strategies (~91%). These results demonstrate that sugar delivery controlled by adapted feeding strategies was more efficient than fixed feeding operations, leading to higher ethanol productivity. Overall, this study provides novel adapted feeding strategies to improve sugar delivery and ethanol productivity. Integration into the current practices of the ethanol industry could improve productivity and reduce production costs of fermentation processes.