Butanol production from alkaline pretreated bamboo using co-culture of wood-rotting fungus Phlebia sp. MG-60-P2 and bacterium Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum

Biofuel production is currently focused on the utilization of polysaccharides in lignocellulosic biomass. In this research, butanol was produced from sodium hydroxide-pretreated bamboo by a co-culture with the wood-rotting fungus Phlebia sp. MG-60-P2 and bacterium C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum. The bacterial monoculture could not utilize the pretreated bamboo, but the co-culture with P2 was successful. Co-culturing produced 0.5 g/L butanol, 1.3 g/L butyric acid, and 0.3 g/L ethanol from 20.0 g/L bamboo pretreated with 5.0% NaOH. The co-culture not only gave the biofuel products but also enhanced the total saccharification rate of polysaccharides in the pretreated bamboo. A combination of 1.0% NaOH pretreatment with the co-culture succeeded in the highest theoretical conversion (46.1%) of carbon (in moles) from the polysaccharides to the fermentation products. This is the first report on the synergistic effects of white-rot fungus Phlebia sp. MG-60-P2 and anaerobic bacterium C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum in a co-culture to metabolize cellulose and hemicellulose in sodium hydroxide-pretreated lignocellulose to produce butanol.