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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Bioenergy Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #336299
Title: Butanol biorefineries: Use of novel technologies to produce biofuel butanol from sweet sorghum bagasse (SSB)

Author
item Qureshi, Nasibuddin
item Klasson, Kjell
item Boddu, Veera
item Liu, Siqing
item Nichols, Nancy
item Saha, Badal
item Hughes, Stephen

Submitted to: Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/22/2017
Publication Date: 5/1/2017
Citation: Qureshi, N., Klasson, K.T., Boddu, V.M., Liu, S., Nichols, N.N., Saha, B.C., Hughes, S.R. 2017. Butanol biorefineries: Use of novel technologies to produce biofuel butanol from sweet sorghum bagasse (SSB) [abstract]. Symposium for Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, May 1-4, 2017, San Francisco, CA.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In order to produce butanol biofuel at a competitive price, agricultural residues such as SSB should be used. This feedstock was studied as a substitute to corn to lower feedstock costs and broaden beyond a food crop. In addition, cutting edge science & technology was applied. In these studies we used SSB at high solids concentration ranging from 86 to 300 gL-1, application of milder pretreatment conditions, and simultaneous removal of toxic butanol by vacuum. The SSB was pretreated using hot water at 190 deg C for a minimum amount of time (< 1 min). This was followed by enzymatic saccharification at 45 deg C. Under these pretreatment and hydrolysis conditions, total sugars up to 78 gL-1 were released from 200 gL-1 SSB. Fermentation of this hydrolyzate resulted in the production of over 15 gL-1 total acetone butanol ethanol (ABE) with ABE productivity of 0.28 gL-1h-1 and yield of 0.40-0.42. Hydrolyzates obtained from 250-300 gL-1 SSB were found to be toxic to the butanol producing culture. To ferment this toxic hydrolyzate, fed-batch fermentation in combination with simultaneous product recovery using vacuum is recommended. The results obtained in these studies will be presented.