Novel Yeast Strains for the Efficient Saccharification and Fermentation of Starchy By-Products to Bioethanol

Nicoletta Gronchi, Lorenzo Favaro, Lorenzo Cagnin, Silvia Brojanigo, Valentino Pizzocchero, Marina Basaglia and Sergio Casella
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Nicoletta Gronchi: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and the Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
Lorenzo Favaro: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and the Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
Lorenzo Cagnin: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and the Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
Silvia Brojanigo: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and the Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
Valentino Pizzocchero: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and the Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
Marina Basaglia: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and the Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
Sergio Casella: Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and the Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padova, Agripolis, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: The use of solid starchy waste streams to produce value-added products, such as fuel ethanol, is a priority for the global bio-based economy. Despite technological advances, bioethanol production from starch is still not economically competitive. Large cost-savings can be achieved through process integration (consolidated bioprocessing, CBP) and new amylolytic microbes that are able to directly convert starchy biomass into fuel in a single bioreactor. Firstly, CBP technology requires efficient fermenting yeast strains to be engineered for amylase(s) production. This study addressed the selection of superior yeast strains with high fermentative performances to be used as recipient for future CBP engineering of fungal amylases. Twenty-one newly isolated wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains were screened at 30 °C in a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) set up using starchy substrates at high loading (20% w/v) and the commercial amylases cocktail STARGEN™ 002. The industrial yeast Ethanol Red™ was used as benchmark. A cluster of strains produced ethanol levels (up to 118 g/L) significantly higher than those of Ethanol Red™ (about 109 g/L). In particular, S. cerevisiae L20, selected for a scale-up process into a 1-L bioreactor, confirmed the outstanding performance over the industrial benchmark, producing nearly 101 g/L ethanol instead of 94 g/L. As a result, this strain can be a promising CBP host for heterologous expression of fungal amylases towards the design of novel and efficient starch-to-ethanol routes.

Keywords: ethanol; starchy waste; natural yeast strains; consolidated bioprocessing; broken rice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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