Production of Biobutanol from inulin-rich biomass and industrial food processing wastes

Inflation of crude oil prices, diminishing oil resources and increasing environmental concerns have accelerated the search for renewable alternatives for gasoline. In recent years, biobutanol has gained enormous attention as a potential gasoline substitute due to its high energy density, low vapor pressure, low heat of vaporization and high hydrophobicity. These physical and chemical properties make butanol suitable for blending with or direct substitution of gasoline. Biobutanol can be produced through acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation from diverse feedstocks. Butanol could occupy a significant portion of advanced biofuel markets if the economics of ABE fermentation process improve. Although, butanol toxicity, low yield, and high butanol recovery costs are some of the challenges of ABE fermentation, high substrate cost still makes up least 50% of the total production cost. The objectives of this study were to utilize locally available waste biomass for butanol production using selected strains of Clostridia.Different food processing wastes were obtained from major food processing industries throughout Ohio and screened for their suitability for ABE fermentation. Among 48 different sample wastes, four substrates, namely, milk dust powder, breading, inedible dough and batter liquid were selected for direct-utilization of these substrates for butanol production. The ability of C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 and C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824 to ferment food processing wastes was tested in batch-fermentation mode. C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824 gave the highest ABE yields on the media with milk dust powder (10.25 g/L), inedible dough (16.30 g/L) and batter liquid (17.41 g/L). C.beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 gave the highest ABE yields on the breading fermentation medium (14.80 g/L).Besides food processing wastes, inulin extract was tested for its potential to produce butanol. This is a co-product obtained during rubber extraction from alternate rubber producing crop, Taraxacum Kok-saghyz, also known as TKS (Kazak dandelion, Russian dandelion or Buckeye Gold). Four different strains, namely, C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052, C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824, C. saccharobutylicum P262, and C. beijerinckii NRRL B592 were investigated for their ability to use raw (unhydrolyzed) and enzymatically-hydrolyzed inulin medium. Chicory inulin, which has similar molecular characteristics to TKS inulin, also was tested. C. saccharobutylicum P262 fermented the raw inulin media best (TKS, 8.48 g/L ABE; chicory, 12.50 g/L ABE), whereas C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 did best in the enzymatically-hydrolyzed inulin medium. From, C. beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 gave maximum ABE of 10.00 g/L and 12.60 g/L from the enzymatically-hydrolyzed TKS and chicory inulin media, respectively.Fermentation of food processing wastes and/or inulin derived from TKS could be scaled up into an industrial fermentation process that would improve economics, help meet local energy demands, provide easy value-added disposal of these wastes, and provide solvents needed by other industries. In addition, a valuable co-product from TKS will help commercialization of TKS as a viable natural rubber producing crop in USA.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

The Ohio State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Bharathidasan, Ashok Kumar

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cornish, Katrina
• Ezeji, Thaddeus

• Alternative Energy
• Energy
• Food Science
• Microbiology
• Inulin
• ABE fermentation
• Food processing wastes

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1357318665

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:osu1357318665