Switching of biodetoxification stage to microbial lipid fermentation stage by adding fungicide sodium hypochlorite in lignocellulosic biorefining process
摘要
Biodetoxification serves as a crucial bridge between pretreatment, saccharification and fermentation in lignocellulosic biorefinery chain by selectively removing inhibitors generated from harsh pretreatment process and improving the fermentability of hydrolysate. However, few research paid attention to effectively eliminating the biodetoxification microorganisms and preventing them from competing with fermenting strains for substrates. In this study, the biodetoxification fungus Paecilomyces variotii ZW70 efficiently removed 100% of 5-HMF, 100% of furfural, and 52.7% of acetic acid from wheat straw hydrolysate within 23 h, with the fermentable sugar loss of only 0.2%. Nevertheless, the robust environmental adaptability of P. variotii ZW70 allowed its survival during fermentation, leading to 62.6% reduction in subsequent microbial lipid production by Trichosporon cutaneum. Sodium hypochlorite, a chlorination-based reagent for water disinfection, was thus added into the biodetoxified hydrolysate and evaluated as a fungicide for fast switching of biodetoxification stage to fermentation stage. The results showed that almost no viable P. variotii ZW70 colonies were detected following a 30 min of exposure to 1.5 g/L sodium hypochlorite in biodetoxified wheat straw hydrolysate. The lipid titer reached 20.8 ± 1.3 g/L using biodetoxified and activated wheat straw hydrolysate. Cells morphology and staining showed that the inactivation of P. variotii in biodetoxified hydrolysate by adding sodium hypochlorite eliminated the competitive inhibition of P. variotii on oleaginous yeast T. cutaneum, and improved the lipid accumulation. This study provides a straightforward solution for inactivation of biodetoxification microorganisms in lignocellulosic biorefinery chain, significantly improving the cellulosic lipid fermentation performance under aerobic condition.