ISSN 2756-3707
International Journal of Histology and Cytology ISSN 2447-9535 Vol. 5 (3), pp. 396-402, March, 2018. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
A study of acetic and propionic acids from the hydrolyzed sugars obtained from lignocellulosic wastes
M. Mohammadi1, G.D. Najafpour1*, M. Asadi2, M. Rahimnejad1, S. Najafpour3 M. Pazouki4
1Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Noushirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran.
2Faculty of Civil Engineering, Noushirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran.
3Ecological Academy of Caspian Sea P.O.Box 961, Sari, Iran.
4Environment Group, Department of Energy, Materials and Energy Research Center, Karaj, Iran.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]. Fax: 0098-111-3234204.
Accepted 23 February, 2017
Abstract
Immobilized cell reactor (ICR) was developed as a novel bioreactor to convert hydrolyzed sugars to organic acids. Sugar fermentation by Propionibacterium acid-propionici entraped by calcium alginate was carried out in continuous mode to produce propionic and acetic acids. In continuous fermentation, more than 90 percent of glucose conversion and 60 percent conversion of xylose were obtained at a retention time of 28 h. The present research has demonstrated that the microorganism preferred glucose as carbon source over other carbon sources. The highest sugar concentration (120 g/L) in the ICR column was successfully converted to propionic acid. The achieved results in ICR with high substrate concentration are promising for scale up operation.
Key words: Enzyme, whole cell, immobilized cell reactor, bioreactor, entrapment.