Abstract
The pretreatment of cellulose in corn fiber by liquid hot water at 160°C and a pH above 4.0 dissolved 50% of the fiber in 20 min. The pretreatment also enabled the subsequent complete enzymatic hydrolysis of the remaining polysaccharides to monosaccharides. The carbohydrates dissolved by the pretreatment were 80% soluble oligosaccharides and 20% monosaccharides with º1% of the carbohydrates lost to degradation products. Only a minimal amount of protein was dissolved, thus enriching the protein content of the un dissolved material. Replication of laboratory results in an industrial trial at 43 gallons per minute (163 L/min) of fiber slurry with a residence time of 20 min illustrates the utility and practicality of this approach for pretreating corn fiber. The added costs owing to pretreatment, fiber, and hydrolysis are equivalent to less than $0.84/gal of ethanol produced from the fiber. Minimizing monosaccharide formation during pretreatment minimized the formation of degradation products; hence, the resulting sugars were readily fermentable to ethanol by the recombinant hexose and by pentose-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae 424A (LNH-ST) and ethanologenic Escherichia coli at yields >90% of theoretical based on the starting fiber. this cooperative effort and first successful trial opens the door for examining the robustness of the pretreatment system under extended run conditions as well as pretreatment of other cellulose-containing materials using water at controlled pH.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baker, A. “Feed Grains Database”, Economic Research Service: US Department of Agriculture. http://www.ers.usda.gov/db/feedgrains/default.asp? ERSTab=3&freq=Monthly&Report=Commodity&data=PRICES (accessed March 11, 2005).
Gulati, M., Kohlmann, K., Ladisch, M. R., Hespell, R., and Bothast, R. J. (1996), Bioresour. Technol. 58, 253–264.
Singh, V., Moreau, R. A., Doner, L. W., Eckhoff, S. R., and Hicks, K. B. (1999), Cereal Chem. 76, 868–872.
Doner, L. W., Chau, H. K., Fishman, M. L., and Hicks, K. B. (1998), Cereal Chem. 75, 408–411.
Wang, T., Hicks, K. B., and Moreau, R. (2002), J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 79, 1201–1206.
Taylor, S. L. and King, J. W. (2000), J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 77, 687, 688.
Ladisch, M. R., Lin, K. W., Voloch, M., and Tsao, G. T. (1983), Enzyme Microb. Technol. 55, 82–102.
Mosier, N. S., Hall, P., Ladisch, C. M., and Ladisch, M. R. (1999), Adv. Biochem. Eng. 65, 24–40.
Conner, A. H., Wood, B. F., Hill, C. G., and Harris, J. F. (1986), in Cellulose Structure, Modification, and Hydrolysis, Young, R. A. and Rowell, R. M., eds., Wiley, New York, pp. 281–296.
Mosier, N., Wyman, C., Dale, B., Elander, R., Lee, Y. Y., Holtzapple, M., and Ladisch, M. R. (2005), Bioresour. Technol. 96, 673–686.
Hsu, T.-A. (1996), in Handbook on Bioethanol: Production and Utilization, Wyman, C. E., ed., Taylor & Francis, Washington, DC, pp. 179–212.
Lin, K. W., Ladisch, M. R., Schaefer, D., Noller, C. H., Lechtenberg, V., and Tsao, G. T. (1981), AIChE Symp. Ser. 77, 102–106.
Weil, J. R., Sarikaya, A., Rau, S.-L., Goetz, J., Ladisch, C. M., Brewer, M., Hendrickson, R., and Ladisch, M. R. (1998), Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 73, 1–17.
Weil, J. R., Brewer, M., Hendrickson, R., Sarikaya, A., and Ladisch, M. R. (1998), Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 70–72, 99–111.
Weil, J., Sarikaya, A., Rau, S.-L., Goetz, J., Ladisch, C., Brewer, M., Hendrickson, R., and Ladisch, M. R. (1997), Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 68, 21–40.
Bobleter, O. (1994), Prog. Polym. Sci. 19, 797–841.
Mok, W. S-L. and Antal, M. J. Jr. (1992), Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 31, 1157–1161.
Ladisch, M. R., Kohlmann, K., Westgate, P., Weil, J., and Yang, Y. (1998), US patent 5,846,787.
Delgenes, J. P., Moletta, R., and Navarro, J. M. (1996), Enzyme Microb. Technol. 19, 220–225.
Palmqvist, E. and Hahn-Hagerdal, B. (2000), Bioresour. Technol. 74, 25–33.
Zaldivar, J., Martinez, A., and Ingram, L. O. (1999), Biotechnol. Bioeng. 65, 24–33.
Ruiz, R. and Ehrman, T. (1996), LAP-002 NREL Analytical Procedure, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO.
Saha, B. C. and Bothast, R. J. (1999), Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 76, 65–77.
Ho, N. W. Y., Chen, Z., and Brainard, A. P. (1998), Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64, 1852–1859.
Ho, N. W. Y. and Tsao, G. T. US Patent Application no. 08148581, awarded August 1998, patent no. 5789210.
Ho, N. W. Y., Chen, Z., Brainard, A. P., and Sedlak, M. (2000), ACS Symposium Series 767, 142–159.
Ruiz, R. and Ehrman, T. (1996), LAP-014 NREL Analytical Procedure. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO.
Nichols, N. N., Dien, B. S., and Bothast, R. J. (2001), Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 56, 120–125.
Weil, J. R., Dien, B., Bothast, R., Hendrickson, R., Mosier, N. S., and Ladisch, M. R. (2002), Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 41, 6132–6138.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mosier, N.S., Hendrickson, R., Brewer, M. et al. Industrial scale-up of pH-controlled liquid hot water pretreatment of corn fiber for fuel ethanol production. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 125, 77–97 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1385/ABAB:125:2:077
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/ABAB:125:2:077