Efficient carbon dioxide utilization and simultaneous hydrogen enrichment from off-gas of acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation by succinic acid producing Escherichia coli.

The off-gas from acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation was firstly used to be CO2 source (co-substrate) for succinic acid production. The optimum ratio of H2/CO2 indicated higher CO2 partial pressures with presence of H2 could enhance C4 pathway flux and reductive product productivity. Moreover, when an inner recycling bioreactor was used for CO2 recycling at a high total pressure (0.2Mpa), a maximum succinic acid concentration of 65.7g·L(-1) was obtained, and a productivity of 0.76g·L(-1)·h(-1) and a high yield of 0.86g·g(-1) glucose were achieved. Furthermore, the hydrogen content was simultaneously enriched to 92.7%. These results showed one successful attempt to reuse the off-gas of ABE fermentation which can be an attractive CO2 source for succinic acid production.