Continuous production of ethanol from hexoses and pentoses using immobilized mixed cultures of Escherichia coli strains

Pornkamol Unrean, Friedrich Srienc

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have developed highly efficient ethanologenic Escherichia coli strains that selectively consume pentoses and/or hexoses. Mixed cultures of these strains can be used to selectively adjust the sugar utilization kinetics in ethanol fermentations. Based on the kinetics of sugar utilization, we have designed and implemented an immobilized cell system for the optimized continuous conversion of sugars into ethanol. The results confirm that immobilized mixed cultures support a simultaneous conversion of hexoses and pentoses into ethanol at high yield and at a faster rate than immobilized homogenous cells. Continuous ethanol production has been maintained for several weeks at high productivity with near complete sugar utilization. The control of sugar utilization using immobilized mixed cultures can be adapted to any composition of hexoses and pentoses by adjusting the strain distribution of immobilized cells. The approach, therefore, holds promise for ethanol fermentation from lignocellulosic hydrolysates where the feedstock varies in sugar composition.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)215-223
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Biotechnology
Volume150
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2010

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work has been supported in part by a grant from NIH (GM077529) and by Mascoma Corp .

Keywords

  • Co-utilization of hexoses and pentoses
  • Continuous ethanol fermentation
  • Immobilized E. coli cells

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