Increased xylitol production rate during long-term cell recycle fermentation of Candida tropicalis

Abstract. Despite intense focus on the ~ 190 permil drop in atmospheric Δ14C across the deglacial “mystery interval”, the specific mechanisms responsible for the apparent Δ14C excess in the glacial atmosphere have received considerably less attention. The computationally efficient Bern3D earth system model of intermediate complexity, designed for long-term climate simulations, allows us to address a very fundamental but still elusive question concerning the atmospheric Δ14C record: How can we explain the persistence of relatively high Δ14C values during the millennia after the Laschamp event? Large uncertainties in the pre-Holocene 14C production rate, as well as in the older portion of the Δ14C record, complicate our qualitative and quantitative interpretation of the glacial Δ14C elevation. Here we begin with sensitivity experiments that investigate the controls on atmospheric Δ14C in more idealized settings. We show that the long-term process of sedimentation may be much more important to the simulation of Δ14C than had been previously thought. In order to provide a bounded estimate of glacial Δ14C change, the Bern3D model was integrated with five available estimates of the 14C production rate as well as reconstructed and hypothesized paleoclimate forcing. Model results demonstrate that none of the available reconstructions of past changes in 14C production can reproduce the elevated Δ14C levels during the last glacial. In order to increase atmospheric Δ14C to glacial levels, a drastic reduction of air-sea exchange efficiency in the polar regions must be assumed, though discrepancies remain for the portion of the record younger than ~ 33 kyr BP. We end with an illustration of how the 14C production rate would have had to evolve to be consistent with the Δ14C record, by combining an atmospheric radiocarbon budget with the Bern3D model. The overall conclusion is that the remaining discrepancies with respect to glacial Δ14C may be linked to an underestimation of 14C production and/or a biased-high reconstruction of Δ14C over the time period of interest. Alternatively, we appear to still be missing an important carbon cycle process for atmospheric Δ14C.

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

Holzforschung ◽

10.1515/hf.2010.113 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 65 (1) ◽

pp. 59-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Juan Francisco García Martín ◽

Sebastián Sánchez ◽

Vicente Bravo ◽

Manuel Cuevas ◽

Luc Rigal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Acid Hydrolysis ◽

Sulphuric Acid ◽

Candida Tropicalis ◽

Agricultural Waste ◽

Biomass Productivity ◽

Specific Substrate ◽

Substrate Uptake ◽

Xylitol Production ◽

Amorphous Cellulose ◽

Glucose Ratio

AbstractThe 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 thed-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 H2SO4at 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 withCandida tropicalisNBRC 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-1of dry olive-pruning debris was obtained from the pretreated culture, whereas without pretreatment 70 g ethanol and 34 g xylitol were recovered.

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