Isobutanol production from empty fruit bunches

• Published in: Renewable energy Vol. 157; pp. 1124 - 1130
• Main Authors: Yang, Jungwoo, Kim, Jae Kyun, Ahn, Jung-Oh, Song, Young-Ha, Shin, Chul-Soo, Park, Yong-Cheol, Kim, Kyoung Heon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2020
• Subjects: Empty fruit bunches; Isobutanol; Lignocellulose; Pretreatment; Separate hydrolysis and fermentation; Separate hydrolysis and fermentation; Empty fruit bunches; Pretreatment; Lignocellulose; Isobutanol
• ISSN: 0960-1481; 1879-0682
• DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.05.067

Although isobutanol has been successfully produced from glucose-based media by various microbes, only a few studies have reported isobutanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, the feasibility of producing isobutanol from hydrothermally-pretreated empty fruit bunches (EFBs) was analyzed. Firstly, the Escherichia coli JK209 strain was constructed; subsequently, optimal fermentation conditions for isobutanol production using this strain were determined. Next, the raw EFBs were hydrothermally pretreated at 190 °C for 15 min, and the pretreated EFBs were hydrolyzed using 10 FPU of cellulase/g glucan. Finally, the resulting hydrolysate was fermented at 25 °C for 84 h, and isobutanol give rise to the yield of 0.26 g isobutanol/g glucose. These results imply that 80.1 g of isobutanol could be produced from 1 kg dry weight of EFBs. To our knowledge, this is the first feasibility study of isobutanol production from pretreated EFBs. [Display omitted] •Isobutanol was produced from empty fruit bunches (EFBs).•EFBs were hydrothermally pretreated and were hydrolyzed using a cellulase.•EFB hydrolysate was fermented to produce isobutanol using an engineered E. coli.•By using this process, 80.1 g of isobutanol could be produced from 1 kg of EFBs.