Resource recovery of lignocellulosic biomass waste into lactic acid - Trends to sustain cleaner production

Fermentative lactic acid production from Sotol bagasse (Dasylirion spp.): Optimization of microwave-assisted biomass pre-treatment

The valorization of industrial byproducts is a crucial step towards sustainable production. Sotol bagasse, a lignocellulosic residue from Sotol spirit production, is a promising feedstock for biorefineries. This study aimed to optimize microwave-assisted pre-treatment of sotol bagasse biomass for fermentative lactic acid production using a microbial consortium from cow manure. Microwave irradiation was employed to hydrolyze the complex structure of the Sotol bagasse, releasing fermentable sugars. Notably, these pre-treatments were more selective than traditional acid hydrolysis, minimizing the formation of inhibitory compounds like hydroxymethylfurfural. Instead, microwave pre-treatments promoted levulinic acid formation through autohydrolysis driven by steam explosions, a valuable chemical platform for various industrial applications. The optimal microwave pre-treatment conditions that led to almost pure glucose attaining a 3 % w/w efficiency in converting lignocellulose to glucose resulted in a maximum lactic acid production of 9.6 g/L. This study demonstrates the potential of Sotol bagasse as a sustainable feedstock for lactic acid production, contributing to a more circular economy.

Research progress on organic acid pretreatment of lignocellulose

Lignocellulosic biomass is a naturally occurring, renewable resource that is utilized to produce a variety of high-value-added products, such as fuels, acids, and building block chemicals. The pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is a crucial step in the deconstruction and fractionation of its components. Organic acids, such as formic, acetic, lactic, and maleic acids, have been widely studied for their effectiveness in lignocellulose pretreatment. Organic acid-based pretreatment techniques are gaining increased attention due to their ability to selectively separate hemicellulose and cellulose, promote oligomer formation, and minimize byproducts. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the various advancements in the science and application of organic acids for the pretreatment of lignocellulose. Furthermore, the significant challenges of organic acid recovery after pretreatment are highlighted, and different recovery methods are discussed. The future challenges related to utilizing organic acids for lignocellulose pretreatment are summarized, with a strong emphasis on adopting a sustainable approach to converting valuable bioresources into renewable products.

Harnessing the polysaccharide production potential to optimize and expand the application of probiotics

Certain probiotic microorganisms can synthesize important bioproducts, including polysaccharides as components of cellular structure or extracellular matrix. Probiotic-derived polysaccharides have been widely applied in food, pharmaceutical, and medical fields due to their excellent properties and biological activities. The development of polysaccharide production potential has become a driving force for facilitating biotechnological applications of probiotics. Based on technical advances in synthetic biology, significant progress has recently been made in engineering probiotics with efficient biosynthesis of polysaccharides. Herein, this review summarizes probiotics chassis and genetic tools used for polysaccharide production. Then, probiotic polysaccharides and relevant biosynthesis mechanisms are also clearly described. Next, we introduce strategies for preparing high-yield, controllable molecular weight or non-native polysaccharides by adjusting metabolic pathways and integrating expression elements in probiotics. Finally, some prospective and well-established contributions of exogenous and in situ polysaccharides in probiotics' stability, bioactivity, and therapeutic effects are presented. Our viewpoints on advancing the efficient biomanufacturing of valuable biopolymers in probiotics and engineering probiotics with customized features are provided to exploit probiotics' industrial and biomedical applications.

Bioprocesses for lactic acid production from organic wastes toward industrialization-a critical review

Lactic acid (LA) is a crucial chemical which has been widely used for industrial application. Microbial fermentation is the dominant pathway for LA production and has been regarded as the promising technology. In recent years, many studies on LA production from various organic wastes have been published, which provided alternative ways to reduce the LA production cost, and further recycle organic wastes. However, few researchers focused on industrial application of this technology due to the knowledge gap and some uncertainties. In this review, the recent advances, basic knowledge and limitations of LA fermentation from organic wastes are discussed, the challenges and suitable envisaged solutions for enhancing LA yield and productivity are provided to realize industrial application of this technology, and also some perspectives are given to further valorize the LA fermentation processes from organic wastes. This review can be a useful guidance for industrial LA production from organic wastes on a sustainable view.

Integration of lactic acid biorefinery with treatment of red mud from alumina refinery: win-win paradigm for waste valorization

The cost of detoxification and neutralization poses certain challenges to the development of an economically viable lactic acid biorefinery with lignocellulosic biomass as feedstock. Herein, red mud, an alkaline waste, was explored as both a detoxifying agent and a neutralizer. Red mud treatment of lignocellulosic hydrolysate effectively removed the inhibitors generated in dilute acid pretreatment, improving the lactic acid productivity from 1.0 g/L·h-1 to 1.9 g/L·h-1 in later fermentation. In addition, red mud could replace CaCO3 as a neutralizer in lactic acid fermentation, which in turn enabled simultaneous bioleaching of valuable metals (Sc, Y, Nd, and Al) from red mud. The neutralization of alkali in red mud by acids retained in lignocellulosic hydrolysate and lactic acid produced from fermentation led to effective dealkalization, rendering a maximum alkali removal efficiency of 92.2 %. Overall, this study offered a win-win strategy for the valorization of both lignocellulosic biomass and red mud.

L-Poly(lactic acid) Production by Microwave Irradiation of Lactic Acid Obtained from Lignocellulosic Wastes

L-polylactic acid (PLA), a semi-crystalline aliphatic polyester, is one of the most manufactured biodegradable plastics worldwide. The objective of the study was to obtain L-polylactic acid (PLA) from lignocellulosic plum biomass. Initially, the biomass was processed via pressurized hot water pretreatment at a temperature of 180 °C for 30 min at 10 MPa for carbohydrate separation. Cellulase and the beta-glucosidase enzymes were then added, and the mixture was fermented with Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus ATCC 7469. The resulting lactic acid was concentrated and purified after ammonium sulphate and n-butanol extraction. The productivity of L-lactic acid was 2.04 ± 0.18 g/L/h. Then, the PLA was synthesized in two stages. Firstly, lactic acid was subjected to azeotropic dehydration at 140 °C for 24 h in the presence of xylene, using SnCl₂ (0.4 wt.%) as a catalyst, resulting in lactide (CPLA). Secondly, microwave-assisted polymerization was carried out at 140 °C for 30 min with 0.4 wt.% SnCl₂. The resulting powder was purified with methanol to produce PLA with 92.1% yield. The obtained PLA was confirmed using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Overall, the resulting PLA can successfully replace the traditional synthetic polymers used in the packaging industry.

Integrated lactic acid production from lignocellulosic agricultural wastes under thermal conditions

The production of lactic acid (LA) from agricultural wastes attracts great attention because of the sustainability and abundance of lignocellulosic feedstocks, as well as the increasing demand for biodegradable polylactic acid. In this study, we isolated a thermophilic strain Geobacillus stearothermophilus 2H-3 for use in robust production of L-(+)LA under the optimal conditions of 60 °C, pH 6.5, which were consistent with the whole-cell-based consolidated bio-saccharification (CBS) process. Sugar-rich CBS hydrolysates derived from various agricultural wastes, including corn stover, corncob residue, and wheat straw, were used as the carbon sources for 2H-3 fermentation by directly inoculating 2H-3 cells into the CBS system, without intermediate sterilization, nutrient supplementation, or adjustment of fermentation conditions. Thus, we successfully combined two whole-cell-based steps into a one-pot successive fermentation process to efficiently produce LA with high optical purity (99.5%), titer (51.36 g/L), and yield (0.74 g/g_biomass). This study provides a promising strategy for LA production from lignocellulose through CBS and 2H-3 fermentation integration.

Microbial tolerance engineering for boosting lactic acid production from lignocellulose

Lignocellulosic biomass is an attractive non-food feedstock for lactic acid production via microbial conversion due to its abundance and low-price, which can alleviate the conflict with food supplies. However, a variety of inhibitors derived from the biomass pretreatment processes repress microbial growth, decrease feedstock conversion efficiency and increase lactic acid production costs. Microbial tolerance engineering strategies accelerate the conversion of carbohydrates by improving microbial tolerance to toxic inhibitors using pretreated lignocellulose hydrolysate as a feedstock. This review presents the recent significant progress in microbial tolerance engineering to develop robust microbial cell factories with inhibitor tolerance and their application for cellulosic lactic acid production. Moreover, microbial tolerance engineering crosslinking other efficient breeding tools and novel approaches are also deeply discussed, aiming to providing a practical guide for economically viable production of cellulosic lactic acid.

High-Pressure Supercritical CO2 Pretreatment of Apple Orchard Waste for Carbohydrates Production Using Response Surface Methodology and Method Uncertainty Evaluation

This study's objective was to separate cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin after high-pressure supercritical carbon dioxide pretreatment for further valorization. The study investigated the supercritical carbon dioxide pretreatment of apple orchard waste at temperatures of 160-200 °C, for 15-45 min, at a pressure of 10 MPa. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the supercritical process and to improve its efficiency. The change of functional groups during different pretreatment conditions was examined by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the structural changes in the biomass structure before and after pretreatment. A new ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) method was developed and validated for the determination of carbohydrates in the liquid fraction that resulted after pretreatment. The estimated uncertainty of the method ranged from 16.9 to 20.8%. The pre-treatment of high-pressure supercritical CO₂ appears to be an effective and promising technique for the recovery of sugars and secondary by-products without the use of toxic solvents.

Adaptation on xylose improves glucose-xylose co-utilization and ethanol production in a carbon catabolite repression (CCR) compromised ethanologenic strain

BACKGROUND

Sugar hydrolysates from lignocellulosic biomass are majorly composed of glucose and xylose that can be fermented to biofuels. Bacteria, despite having the natural ability to consume xylose are unable to consume it in presence of glucose due to a carbon catabolite repression (CCR) mechanism. This leads to overall reduced productivity as well as incomplete xylose utilization due to ethanol build-up from glucose utilization. In our effort to develop a strain for simultaneous fermentation of glucose and xylose into ethanol, we deleted ptsG in ethanologenic E. coli SSK42 to make it deficient in CCR and performed adaptive laboratory evolution to achieve accelerated growth rate, sugar consumption and ethanol production. Finally, we performed proteomics study to identify changes that might have been responsible for the observed improved phenotype of the evolved strain.

RESULTS

The parental strain of SSK42, i.e., wild-type E. coli B, did not co-utilize glucose and xylose as expected. After deleting the ptsG gene encoding the EIIBC^Glc subunit of PTS system, glucose consumption is severely affected in wild-type E. coli B. However, the ethanologenic, SSK42 strain, which was evolved in our earlier study on both glucose and xylose, didn't show such a drastic effect of EIIBC^Glc deletion, instead consumed glucose first, followed by xylose without delay for switching from one sugar to another. To improve growth on xylose and co-utilization capabilities, the ptsG deleted SSK42 was evolved on xylose. The strain evolved for 78 generations, strain SCD78, displayed significant co-utilization of glucose and xylose sugars. At the bioreactor level, the strain SCD78 produced 3-times the ethanol titer of the parent strain with significant glucose-xylose co-utilization. The rate of glucose and xylose consumption also increased 3.4-fold and 3-fold, respectively. Proteome data indicates significant upregulation of TCA cycle proteins, respiration-related proteins, and some transporters, which may have a role in increasing the total sugar consumption and co-utilization of sugars.

CONCLUSION

Through adaptive evolution, we have obtained a strain that has a significant glucose-xylose co-utilization phenotype with 3-fold higher total sugar consumption rate and ethanol production rate compared to the unevolved strain. This study also points out that adaptation on xylose is enough to impart glucose-xylose co-utilization property in CCR compromised ethanologenic strain SSK42.