Efficient butanol recovery from acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation cultures grown on sweet sorghum juice by pervaporation using silicalite-1 membrane.

We investigated butanol recovery by pervaporation separation, using a silicalite-1 membrane, from batch cultures of butanol-producing Clostridium beijerinckii SBP2 grown on sweet sorghum juice as a fermentation medium. The pervaporation system yielded 73% (w/v) butanol from intact feed cultures containing 1% (w/v) butanol, and had a butanol permeation flux of 11 g m(-2) h(-1). Upon neutralization and activated charcoal treatment of the feed cultures, butanol yield and total flux increased to 82% (w/v) and 40 g m(-2) h(-1), respectively.

Lactic acid production by Enteroccocus faecium in liquefied sago starch.

Enterococcus faecium No. 78 (PNCM-BIOTECH 10375) isolated from puto, a type of fermented rice in the Philippines was used to produce lactic acid in repeated batch fermentation mode. Enzymatically liquefied sago starch was used as the sole carbon source, since sago (Metroxylon spp) is a sustainable crop for industrial exploitation.

Fuel ethanol production from sweet sorghum using repeated-batch fermentation.

Ethanol was efficiently produced from three varieties of sweet sorghum using repeated-batch fermentation without pasteurization or acidification. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells could be recycled in 16 cycles of the fermentation process with good ethanol yields. This technique would make it possible to use a broader range of sweet sorghum varieties for ethanol production.

A new fungal endophyte, Helminthosporium velutinum, promoting growth of a bioalcohol plant, sweet sorghum.

A new fungal isolate that grows endophytically in sweet sorghum was identified as Helminthosporium velutinum Link ex Ficinus & Schubert. Light-microscopy of cross-sections of colonized sweet sorghum roots showed that the intercellular, pigmented hyphae of the fungus was mostly limited to the epidermal layer and formed outer mantle-like structures. This endophyte has the ability to significantly increase sweet sorghum biomass.