Mitigation of pretreatment-derived inhibitors during lignocellulosic ethanol fermentation using spent grain as a nitrogen source

Nitrogen-containing nutrient sources can be used to mitigate the negative effects of pretreatment-derived inhibitors on product formation rates during bioethanol production. Process economic limitations require these nutrients to be inexpensive. A method of hydrolyzing the protein in the spent grain fraction remaining after wheat grain saccharification, using porcine pancreas trypsin, is presented. This protein hydrolysate was shown to increase the volumetric productivity of ethanol production, measured after 24 h, during fermentation of a lignocellulosic hydrolysate from 0.24 to 0.60 g/L h. Although the effects on the productivity, on a per gram basis, were lower than with yeast extract, which increased the product formation rate to 1.64 g/L h, amino acid analysis of the soluble polypeptides in the protein hydrolysate showed that the feasibility of using spent grain as a nutrient source could be increased through optimization of the hydrolysis step. Furthermore, it was shown that pretreatment-derived inhibitors could reduce cell growth without affecting ethanol formation rates and that nutrient addition could increase ethanol formation rates without increasing cell growth. Finally, it was shown that the ability of nutrients to affect the product formation rate was limited above a certain inhibitor concentration.

Asymmetric Whole-Cell Bio-Reductions of (R)-Carvone Using Optimized Ene Reductases

(2R,5R)-dihydrocarvone is an industrially applied building block that can be synthesized by site-selective and stereo-selective C=C bond bio-reduction of (R)-carvone. Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells overexpressing an ene reductase from Nostoc sp. PCC7120 (NostocER1) in combination with a cosubstrate regeneration system proved to be very effective biocatalysts for this reaction. However, the industrial applicability of biocatalysts is strongly linked to the catalysts’ activity. Since the cell-internal NADH concentrations are around 20-fold higher than the NADPH concentrations, we produced E. coli cells where the NADPH-preferring NostocER1 was exchanged with three different NADH-accepting NostocER1 mutants. These E. coli whole-cell biocatalysts were used in batch operated stirred-tank reactors on a 0.7 l-scale for the reduction of 300 mM (R)-carvone. 287 mM (2R,5R)-dihydrocarvone were formed within 5 h with a diasteromeric excess of 95.4% and a yield of 95.6%. Thus, the whole-cell biocatalysts were strongly improved by using NADH-accepting enzymes, resulting in an up to 2.1-fold increased initial product formation rate leading to a 1.8-fold increased space-time yield when compared to literature.

Highly efficient hydroxylation of gaseous alkanes at reduced temperature catalyzed by cytochrome P450BM3 assisted by decoy molecules

Cytochrome P450BM3 functions as a small-alkane hydroxylase upon the addition of perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFs) as decoy molecules. The coupling efficiency (product formation rate per NADPH consumption rate) for the hydroxylation of small alkanes was improved by reducing the reaction temperature to 0°C.

Effect of Flow Pulsations in Premixed, Swirl Stabilized Combustor

In the present work, a numerical model has been developed using ANSYS Fluent 14.5 to simulate the combustion phenomenon in a partially premixed, swirl-stabilized, LPG-fueled gas turbine combustor. In a practical gas turbine combustor, pulsations in the flow at the air side cannot be avoided which can lead to thermoacoustic instabilities. The primary objective of the study is to numerically analyze the effect of such pulsations on the fluid flow and combustion process inside the combustor. Different parameters like static temperature, progress variable and product formation rate are compared at the outlet plane of the combustor. The effect of change in the parameters like amplitude and frequency of the sinusoidal air flow input has also been investigated in the present study. It is observed that the solution changes from periodic to quasi-periodic at a higher amplitude condition. The numerical model was qualitatively validated against experiments performed on a laboratory-scale premixed, swirl-stabilized, gas turbine combustor.

Improved Dynamic System of Microbial Continuous Fermentation and its Parameter Identification

In this paper, the nonlinear dynamic system of microbe continuous fermentation products 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD) is rewritten by improving the specific cellular growth rate, specific substrate consumption rate and specific product formation rate. Firstly, under the condition of substrate glycol excess and active trans-membrane transport, according to the dynamic behavior the fermentation process, we consider the glycerol and 1,3–PD concentration within the cell, and improve the specific cellular growth rate, specific substrate consumption rate and specific product formation rate, then rewrite the dynamic system of microbial continuous fermentation process. Secondly, taking the dynamic system as main constraint condition, we establish the parameter identification model and prove the existence of the optimal solution. Lastly, the numerical results calculated by particle swarm algorithm show that the improved model is suitable for describe the dynamic behavior of 1,3-PD, but is not accurate enough for by-products.

Effect of Organometallic Compounds on the Formation of Carbon Nanostructures by Pulsed Electric Discharge of Fluorine-Containing Organic Liquid between Metal Electrodes

The carbon nanotube and carbon nanoparticle that contain fluorine on their surfaces were prepared by a pulsed electric discharge in a fluorine-containing organic liquid. The dominant product was nanoparticles with the diameters of ca. 5–100 nm in all experiments, however, the intensity ratio of G-band (1580 cm-1) to D-band (1350 cm-1) of the Raman spectrum of the products increased by addition of a catalyst indicating the formation of crystalline particles. The product formation rate also increased to 39.3 mg/A•s with ferrocene and 79.4 mg/A•s with nickelocene while with no catalyst it resulted in 12.5 mg/A•s.

Kinetics and Mechanistic Study on the Reaction of Iodo(diethylenetriamine) Platinum(II) with L-Cystine

Substitution reactions of the complex [Pt(dien)I]+, where dien = diethylenetriamine or 1,5-diamino-3-azapentane, with the sulfur-containing rescue agent l-cystine have been studied in a 1.0 × 10–1 mol dm–3 aqueous perchlorate medium at various temperatures (25–50°C) and pH (2.30–1.00) using a UV-visible spectrophotometer. The products were characterized by their infrared and 1H NMR data at various temperatures. These data indicate that [Pt(dien)I]+ formed a complex with l-cystine through Pt–S bonds at pH 1.00–2.30. This Pt–S bond is observed at 50°C with ring closure of the dien (δ 3.8–3.9, 2H, CH2) and with open-ring dien (δ 3.2, 3.6–3.8 (dien), 2H, CH2). All reactions follow the rate law –d[mixture]/dt = (k1 + k2[Nu])[PtII], where k2 denotes a second-order rate constant and [Nu] is the total concentration of nucleophile. The product formation rate constant and activation parameters Ea, ΔH#, and ΔS# have been determined.