Use of Algae Biomass Obtained by Single-Step Mild Acid Hydrolysis in Hydrogen Production by the β-Glucosidase-Producing Clostridium beijerinckii Br21

• Published in: Waste and biomass valorization Vol. 11; no. 4; pp. 1393 - 1402
• Main Authors: Fonseca, Bruna Constante, Dalbelo, Giovanni, Gelli, Valeria Cress, Carli, Sibeli, Meleiro, Luana Parras, Zimbardi, Ana Lúcia Ribeiro Latorre, Furriel, Rosa Prazeres Melo, Tapia, Delia Rita, Reginatto, Valeria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-04-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Algae; Biomass; Carbohydrates; Cellobiase; Cellobiose; Clostridium beijerinckii; Design of experiments; Engineering; Environment; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Experimental design; Galactose; Glucosidase; Hydrogen production; Industrial Pollution Prevention; Inoculum; Lignin; Oligosaccharides; Optimization; Original Paper; Renewable and Green Energy; Saccharification; Substrates; Waste Management/Waste Technology; β-Glucosidase; Acid treatment; Biohydrogen; Factorial design
• ISSN: 1877-2641; 1877-265X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12649-018-0430-7

Macroalgae biomass is a potential feedstock for fermentative H
2
production: it has high carbohydrate concentration and is lignin-free. Here, we optimize a mild acid treatment of
Kappaphycus alvarezii
biomass by an experimental design 2
4
. The optimal acid treatment conditions were 90 °C, HCl concentration of 55.9 mmol/L, 0.375 g of algae mass, and 8 h of treatment. Under these conditions, the hydrolysate presented mono-, but also di- and oligosaccharides. We used this hydrolysate as substrate for fermentative hydrogen (H
2
) production by the
Clostridium beijerinckii
Br21 grown in two different conditions: (1) in medium containing galactose and no β-glucosidase activity; (2) in medium with cellobiose to stimulate β-glucosidase activity, which was 0.33U/mL. The fermentative assay conducted in the presence of the
C. beijerinckii
Br21 with β-glucosidase activity provided higher H
2
concentration and yield as compared to the assay accomplished in the presence of the inoculum with no β-glucosidase activity—171.76 ± 2.10 and 140.95 ± 10.92 mL of H
2
/L, and 70.3 ± 0.9 and 62.7 ± 4.9 mL of H
2
/g of dry algae, respectively. Therefore, a fermentative β-glucosidase-producing organism such as
C. beijerinckii
Br21 can potentially complete biomass saccharification for later renewable H
2
production.