Utilization of mixed agricultural waste for production of low (C1 To C3) and high carbon content (C4 Plus) alcohols under aerobic conditions

Abstract

Alcohol production using a variety of microbial species has had challenges due to the toxicity and inhibition of alcohols produced on microbial populations during fermentation, which generally results in low yields. This has resulted in research focusing on a variety of strategies to produce alcohols using suitable biocatalysts and efficient downstream processes for alcohol recovery. Engineered strains also add value on the improvement of the alcohol production process. In the present study, a delignification process was used, which consisted of mild acid (H2SO4) pretreatment followed by hot water pretreatment. Subsequently, cellulases were used to hydrolyse the pretreated agrowaste, for which the filtrates from each hydrolysis steps were mixed together. A bacterial strain isolated from crude oil was used to produce low (C1 to C3) and high carbon content (C4+) alcohols under aerobic conditions for the benefit of the biorefinery industry.