Process relevant screening of cellulolytic organisms for consolidated bioprocessing.

Background: Although the biocatalytic conversion of cellulosic biomass could replace fossil oil for the production of various compounds, it is often not economically viable due to the high costs of cellulolytic enzymes. One possibility to reduce costs is consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), integrating cellulase production, hydrolysis of cellulose, and the fermentation of the released sugars to the desired product into one process step. To establish such a process, the most suitable cellulase-producing organism has to be identified.

Efficient evaluation of cellulose digestibility by Trichoderma reesei Rut-C30 cultures in online monitored shake flasks.

Background: Pretreated lignocellulosic biomass is considered as a suitable feedstock for the sustainable production of chemicals. However, the recalcitrant nature of cellulose often results in very cost-intensive overall production processes. A promising concept to reduce the costs is consolidated bioprocessing, which integrates in a single step cellulase production, cellulose hydrolysis, and fermentative conversion of produced sugars into a valuable product.

Improvement and scale-down of a Trichoderma reesei shake flask protocol to microtiter plates enables high-throughput screening.

Nowadays, high-throughput screening is essential for determining the best microbial strains and fermentation conditions. Although microtiter plates allow higher throughput in screening than shake flasks, they do not guarantee sufficient oxygen supply if operated at unsuitable conditions. This is especially the case in viscous fermentations, potentially leading to poor liquid movement and surface growth.