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Effect of Agitation Rate on Ethanol Production from Sugar Maple Hemicellulosic Hydrolysate by Pichia stipitis

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Abstract

Concentrated dilute acid hydrolysate was obtained from hot water extracts of Acer saccharum (sugar maple) and was fermented to ethanol by Pichia stipitis in a 1.3-L-benchtop bioreactor. The conditions under which the highest ethanol yield was achieved were when the air flow rate was set to 100 cm3 and the agitation rate was set to 150 rpm resulting in an overall mass transfer coefficient (K L a) of 0.108 min−1. A maximum ethanol concentration of 29.7 g/L was achieved after 120 h of fermentation; however, after 90 h of fermentation, the ethanol concentration was only slightly lower at 29.1 g/L with a yield of 0.39 g ethanol per gram of sugar consumed. Using the same air flow rate and adjusting the agitation rate resulted in lower ethanol yields of 0.25 g/g at 50 rpm and 0.30 g/g at 300 rpm. The time it takes to reach the maximum ethanol concentration was also affected by the agitation rate. The ethanol concentration continued to increase even after 130 h of fermentation when the agitation rate was set at 50 rpm, whereas the maximum ethanol concentration was reached after only 68.5 h at 300 rpm.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to NYSERDA and US DOE for the financial support leading to this paper. The authors are indebted to the Biorefinery Research Institute (BRI) for the financial and research support. Special thanks go to Dr. Amidon, without whose support, this paper would not have been possible. Mr. Christopher Wood and Mr. John Buyando have contributed in producing the wood hydrolysate for this study. Mr. D. Kiemle has provided support in NMR analyses.

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  1. Department of Paper and Bioprocess Engineering, SUNY ESF, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA

    Alan M. Shupe & Shijie Liu

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  1. Alan M. Shupe
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  2. Shijie Liu
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Correspondence to Shijie Liu.

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Shupe, A.M., Liu, S. Effect of Agitation Rate on Ethanol Production from Sugar Maple Hemicellulosic Hydrolysate by Pichia stipitis . Appl Biochem Biotechnol 168, 29–36 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-011-9285-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-011-9285-0

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