Manuel Cuevas

Xylitol production from olive-pruning debris by sulphuric acid hydrolysis and fermentation with Candida tropicalis

Abstract The debris of olive pruning is a renewable, low-cost and widely available agricultural waste. Its biochemical conversion by hydrolysis and fermentation was undertaken in the present study. Diluted acid hydrolysis was conducted in a heterogeneous stirred tank reactor at 90°C and at a low sulphuric acid concentration (0.0–1.0 N) for 300 min. To increase the d-xylose/d-glucose ratio into the hydrolysate, in another experiment amorphous cellulose and extracts were removed by means of a pretreatment in an extruder with 1 N H2SO4 at 70°C before the acid hydrolysis. The fermentation of hydrolysates was performed under microaerobic conditions in a batch bioreactor at 30°C and pH 5 with Candida tropicalis NBRC 0618. The controlled fermentation parameters included maximum specific growth rate, biomass productivity, rate of the specific substrate uptake, rates of specific ethanol and xylitol production, and overall yield of ethanol and xylitol. In the presence of 1.0 N H2SO4, the fermentation of the pretreated hydrolysate led to specific xylitol production rates and overall xylitol yield (0.1 g g-1 h for t=25 h; 0.49 g g-1, respectively) higher than those achieved without pretreatment (0.03 g g-1 h for t=25 h; 0.39 g g-1, respectively). Under these conditions, 53 g xylitol kg-1 of dry olive-pruning debris was obtained from the pretreated culture, whereas without pretreatment 70 g ethanol and 34 g xylitol were recovered.

Enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated almond-tree prunings for sugar production.

Almond-tree prunings (ATP), an agricultural residue largely available in Mediterranean countries, were pretreated with either hot water or dilute sulphuric acid at 180-230 °C. Solids derived from hot water pretreatments were further submitted to alkaline peroxide delignification. In addition, all solids obtained from the three mentioned processes were hydrolysed by cellulases and β-glucosidases to investigate their enzymatic digestibilities. Hot water pretreatment led to high oligosaccharide yields (18.2 g/100 g ATP at 190 °C) while dilute acid pretreatment provided the highest monosaccharide yields (24.0 g/100 g ATP at 190 °C) along with low concentrations of fermentation inhibitors. Glucose yields from enzymatic hydrolysis were strongly affected by both pretreatment type and pretreatment temperature. The highest temperature assayed for both hydrothermal and dilute sulphuric acid pretreatment maximized the glucose recovery (49.2% and 72.8%, respectively) while solids derived from alkaline peroxide treatment achieved maximal glucose concentrations (41.9 g/L, 58.4% of potential yield).