Increasing the economic value of lignocellulosic stillage through medium-chain fatty acid production.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lignocellulosic biomass is seen as an abundant renewable source of liquid fuels and chemicals that are currently derived from petroleum. When lignocellulosic biomass is used for ethanol production, the resulting liquid residue (stillage) contains large amounts of organic material that could be further transformed into recoverable bioproducts, thus enhancing the economics of the biorefinery.

Results

Here we test the hypothesis that a bacterial community could transform the organics in stillage into valuable bioproducts. We demonstrate the ability of this microbiome to convert stillage organics into medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), identify the predominant community members, and perform a technoeconomic analysis of recovering MCFAs as co-products of ethanol product

SUBMITTER: Scarborough MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6052542 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature