The effects of ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate on the production of 1,3-propanediol from crude glycerol by microbial consortium

• Published in: Bioprocess and biosystems engineering Vol. 41; no. 8; pp. 1079 - 1088
• Main Authors: Jiang, Lili, Dai, Jianying, Sun, Yaqin, Xiu, Zhilong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.08.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 1,3-Propanediol; 3-Hydroxypropionaldehyde; Biodiesel fuels; Biofuels; Biotechnology; Byproducts; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Consortia; Diesel; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Fermentation; Food Science; Glycerol; Industrial and Production Engineering; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Ionic liquids; Klebsiella; Metabolism; Microorganisms; NAD; NADH; Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide; Research Paper; Substrates; Ionic liquids; Microbial consortium; Crude glycerol; 1,3-Propanediol
• ISSN: 1615-7591; 1615-7605
• DOI: 10.1007/s00449-018-1937-9

Ionic liquids (ILs) as “green” solvents have been widely used owing to their excellent properties, e.g., for biodiesel production. Crude glycerol as a by-product in biodiesel production is an ideal feedstock for the microbial production of 1,3-propanediol (PDO), which is a versatile bulk chemical. PDO can be produced by microbial consortium with the advantages of high substrate tolerance and narrow by-product profile. In the present study, the effect of IL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([Emim][TfO]) was evaluated on the capacity of PDO production from crude glycerol by microbial consortium DL38-BH. In the batch fermentation at 60 g/L crude glycerol and 10 g/L [Emim][TfO], the concentration and yield of PDO from glycerol increased from 23.14 g/L and 0.45 mol/mol to 31.17 g/L and 0.60 mol/mol, respectively. Our results showed that [Emim][TfO] decreased the ratio of intracellular NADH to NAD + and increased the concentration of 3-HPA during batch fermentation. The activities of three key enzymes in glycerol metabolism were stimulated by [Emim][TfO] during the batch fermentation by microbial consortium DL38-BH. Compared to the control, the proportion of Klebsiella genus which could convert glycerol to PDO increased significantly from 79.19% to 89.49% and the other genera that did not produce PDO were dramatically decreased ( P  < 0.05) at the end of batch fermentation. This work demonstrated that [Emim][TfO] significantly improved the concentration and yield of PDO from crude glycerol by adjusting microbial community during batch fermentation by microbial consortium.