Glycerol-Assisted Thermal Strategy for Intensifying Bioconversion Performance of Gluconobacter oxydans.

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Industrial Microbiology
• Biorefinery

Background:

• Optimizing biotransformation temperature is key for process intensification.
• High temperatures can damage microbial cells like Gluconobacter oxydans, limiting efficiency.
• Glycerol can potentially mitigate thermal stress in microbial bioconversions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a glycerol-assisted thermal strategy to improve Gluconobacter oxydans biotransformation performance.
• To mitigate high-temperature damage to cells during bioconversion.
• To enhance xylonic acid production from xylose and lignocellulosic biomass.

Main Methods:

• Employing a glycerol-assisted thermal strategy for whole-cell catalysis with Gluconobacter oxydans.
• Testing catalysis at 37°C with 15 mmol/L glycerol assistance.
• Applying the strategy to pure xylose and corncob hydrolysate for xylonic acid production.

Main Results:

• Maintained 75.9% live cell proportion after 40h at 37°C with glycerol.
• Accumulated 570.2 g xylonic acid from pure xylose, achieving 14.3 g/L/h productivity (14.5-19.6% increase).
• Produced 216.8 g xylonic acid from 1000 g corncob with 4.1 g/h productivity.

Conclusions:

• Glycerol-assisted thermal strategy effectively protects Gluconobacter oxydans at elevated temperatures.
• The strategy significantly enhances xylonic acid yield and productivity.
• Presents an economically viable approach for lignocellulosic biorefineries.