Abstract: The hunt for alternative sources of energy generation that are inexpensive, ecofriendly, renewable and can replace fossil fuels is on, owing to the increasing demands of energy. One approach in this direction is the conversion of plant residues into biofuels wherein lignocellulose, which forms the structural framework of plants consisting of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, is first broken down and hydrolyzed into simple fermentable sugars, which upon fermentation form biofuels such as ethanol. A major bottleneck is to disarray lignin which is present as a protective covering and makes cellulose and hemicellulose recalcitrant to enzymatic hydrolysis. A number of biomass deconstruction or pretreatment processes (physical, chemical and biological) have been used to break the structural framework of plants and depolymerize lignin. This review surveys and discusses some major pretreatment processes pertaining to the pretreatment of plant biomass, which are used for the production of biofuels and other value added products. The emphasis is given on processes that provide maximum amount of sugars, which are subsequently used for the production of biofuels.

Abstract: This report describes one potential conversion process to hydrocarbon products by way of biological conversion of lingnocellulosic-dervied sugars. The process design converts biomass to a hydrocarbon intermediate, a free fatty acid, using dilute-acid pretreatement, enzymatic saccharification, and bioconversion. Ancillary areas--feed handling, hydrolysate conditioning, product recovery and upgrading (hydrotreating) to a final blendstock material, wastewater treatment, lignin combusion, and utilities--are also included in the design.

Abstract: Background There has been a great deal of interest in fuel productions from lignocellulosic biomass to minimize the conflict between food and fuel use. The bioconversion of xylose, which is the second most abundant sugar present after glucose in lignocellulosic biomass, is important for the development of cost effective bioprocesses to fuels. Rhodococcus opacus PD630, an oleaginous bacterium, accumulates large amounts of triacylglycerols (TAGs), which can be processed into advanced liquid fuels. However, R. opacus PD630 does not metabolize xylose.

Abstract: Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a highly crystalline and mechanically stable nanopolymer, which has excellent potential as a material in many novel applications, especially if it can be produced in large amounts from an inexpensive feedstock. Waste fiber sludge, a residue with little or no value, originates from pulp mills and lignocellulosic biorefineries. A high cellulose and low lignin content contributes to making the fiber sludge suitable for bioconversion, even without a thermochemical pretreatment step. In this study, the possibility to combine production of BC and hydrolytic enzymes from fiber sludge was investigated. The BC was characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis, and its mechanical properties were investigated. Bacterial cellulose and enzymes were produced through sequential fermentations with the bacterium Gluconacetobacter xylinus and the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei. Fiber sludges from sulfate (SAFS) and sulfite (SIFS) processes were hydrolyzed enzymatically without prior thermochemical pretreatment and the resulting hydrolysates were used for BC production. The highest volumetric yields of BC from SAFS and SIFS were 11 and 10 g/L (DW), respectively. The BC yield on initial sugar in hydrolysate-based medium reached 0.3 g/g after seven days of cultivation. The tensile strength of wet BC from hydrolysate medium was about 0.04 MPa compared to about 0.03 MPa for BC from a glucose-based reference medium, while the crystallinity was slightly lower for BC from hydrolysate cultures. The spent hydrolysates were used for production of cellulase with T. reesei. The cellulase activity (CMCase activity) in spent SAFS and SIFS hydrolysates reached 5.2 U/mL (87 nkat/mL), which was similar to the activity level obtained in a reference medium containing equal amounts of reducing sugar. It was shown that waste fiber sludge is a suitable raw material for production of bacterial cellulose and enzymes through sequential fermentation. The concept studied offers efficient utilization of the various components in fiber sludge hydrolysates and affords a possibility to combine production of two high value-added products using residual streams from pulp mills and biorefineries. Cellulase produced in this manner could tentatively be used to hydrolyze fresh fiber sludge to obtain medium suitable for production of BC in the same biorefinery.

Abstract: With the rise in global energy demand and environmental concerns about the use of fossil fuels, the need for rapid development of alternative fuels from sustainable, non-food sources is now well acknowledged. The effective utilization of low-cost high-volume agricultural and forest biomass for the production of transportation fuels and bio-based materials will play a vital role in addressing this concern [1]. The processing of lignocellulosic biomass, especially from mixed agricultural and forest sources with varying composition, is currently significantly more challenging than the bioconversion of corn starch or cane sugar to ethanol [1,2]. This is due to the inherent recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass to enzymatic and microbial deconstruction, imparted by the partly crystalline nature of cellulose and its close association with hemicellulose and lignin in the plant cell wall [2,3]. Pretreatments that convert raw lignocellulosic biomass to a form amenable to enzymatic degradation are therefore an integral step in the production of bioethanol from this material [4]. Chemical or thermochemical pretreatments act to reduce biomass recalcitrance in various ways. These include hemicellulose removal or degradation, lignin modification and/or delignification, reduction in crystallinity and degree of polymerization of cellulose, and increasing pore volume. Biomass pretreatments are an active focus of industrial and academic research efforts, and various strategies have been developed. Among commonly studied pretreatments, organosolv pretreatment, in which an aqueous organic solvent mixture is used as the pretreatment medium, results in the fractionation of the major biomass components, cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose into three process streams [5,6]. Cellulose and lignin are recovered as separate solid streams, while hemicelluloses and sugar degradation products such as furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) are released as a water-soluble fraction. The combination of ethanol as the solvent and

Abstract: Background Sweet sorghum is regarded as a very promising energy crop for ethanol production because it not only supplies grain and sugar, but also offers lignocellulosic resource. Cost-competitive ethanol production requires bioconversion of all carbohydrates in stalks including of both sucrose and lignocellulose hydrolyzed into fermentable sugars. However, it is still a main challenge to reduce ethanol production cost and improve feasibility of industrial application. An integration of the different operations within the whole process is a potential solution.

Abstract: In this work eighteen red yeasts were screened for carotenoids production on glycerol containing medium. Strain C2.5t1 of Rhodotorula glutinis, that showed the highest productivity, was UV mutagenized. Mutant 400A15, that exhibited a 280 % increase in β–carotene production in respect to the parental strain, was selected. A central composite design was applied to 400A15 to optimize carotenoids and biomass productions. Regression analyses of the quadratic polynomial equations obtained (R2 = 0.87 and 0.94, for carotenoids and biomass, respectively) suggest that the models are reliable and significant (P < 0.0001) in the prediction of carotenoids and biomass productions on the basis of the concentrations of crude glycerol, yeast extract and peptone. Accordingly, total carotenoids production achieved (14.07 ± 1.45 mg l−1) under optimized growth conditions was not statistically different from the maximal predicted (14.64 ± 1.57 mg l−1) (P < 0.05), and it was about 100 % higher than that obtained under un-optimized conditions. Therefore mutant 400A15 may represent a biocatalyst of choice for the bioconversion of crude glycerol into value-added metabolites, and a tool for the valorization of this by-product of the biodiesel industry.

Abstract: Pretreatment with white-rot fungi can effectively remove lignin and decompose the structure of biomass to enhance subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. This study developed a novel fungal pretreatment of biomass, which was operated under non-sterile conditions. The white-rot fungus Irpex lacteus colonized stably on the non-sterile substrates and effectively degraded lignin. After non-sterile fungal pretreatment for 42 days, lignin was degraded by 43.8%. The maximum saccharification efficiency was 7-fold higher after enzymatic hydrolysis compared to that of raw corn stover. Furthermore, the production of ethanol from corn stover improved. During non-sterile biological pretreatment, several microorganisms coexisted with Irpex lacteus, and the microbial community generated abundant by-products that greatly improved the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis. Non-sterile fungal pretreatment presents a feasible and promising technology for the production of biofuels by integrating on-farm wet storage systems. Moreover, it provides a low-cost bioconversion process and a stable, secure, and environmentally friendly energy supply.

Abstract: Microbial production of ethanol might be a potential route to replace oil and chemical feedstocks. Bioethanol is by far the most common biofuel in use worldwide. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most promising renewable resource for fuel bioethanol production. Bioconversion of lignocellulosics to ethanol consists of four major unit operations: pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and product separation/distillation. Conventional bioethanol processes for lignocellulosics apply commercial fungal cellulase enzymes for biomass hydrolysis, followed by yeast fermentation of resulting glucose to ethanol. The fungus Neurospora crassa has been used extensively for genetic, biochemical, and molecular studies as a model organism. However, the strain's potential in biotechnological applications has not been widely investigated and discussed. The fungus N. crassa has the ability to synthesize and secrete all three enzyme types involved in cellulose hydrolysis as well as various enzymes for hemicellulose degradation. In addition, N. crassa has been reported to convert to ethanol hexose and pentose sugars, cellulose polymers, and agro-industrial residues. The combination of these characteristics makes N. crassa a promising alternative candidate for biotechnological production of ethanol from renewable resources. This review consists of an overview of the ethanol process from lignocellulosic biomass, followed by cellulases and hemicellulases production, ethanol fermentations of sugars and lignocellulosics, and industrial application potential of N. crassa.

Abstract: The Pseudomonas genus is one of the most diverse and ecologically significant groups of known bacteria, and it includes species that have been isolated worldwide in all types of environments. The bacteria from this genus are characterized by an elevated metabolic versatility, which is due to the presence of a complex enzymatic system. Investigations since the early 1960s have demonstrated their potential as biocatalysts for the production of industrially relevant and value-added flavor compounds from terpenes. Although terpenes are often removed from essential oils as undesirable components, its synthetic oxy-functionalized derivatives have broad applications in flavors/fragrances and pharmaceutical industries. Hence, biotransformation appears to be an effective tool for the structural modification of terpene hydrocarbons and terpenoids to synthesize novel and high-valued compounds. This review highlights the potential of Pseudomonas spp. as biocatalysts for the bioconversion of terpenes and summarizes the presently known bioflavors that are obtained from these processes.

Abstract: A major by-product of biodiesel production is waste glycerol, which has numerous potential applications. In this study, we isolated a novel bacterium capable of producing cellulose from waste glycerol, and identified it as a novel strain (named NEDO-01) of Gluconacetobacter intermedius. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the morphology of the pellicle produced by NEDO-01 was similar to that of cellulose produced by Gluconacetobacter hansenii ATCC23769. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analyses suggested that cellulose produced by NEDO-01 had molecular and crystalline structures similar to those of cellulose produced by ATCC23769. After the optimization of cultivation conditions, NEDO-01 mediated the one-step production of nanofibrillated bacterial cellulose (NFBC) from waste glycerol in a medium supplemented with carboxymethyl cellulose. Transmission electron microscopic analysis revealed that the NFBC was composed of relatively uniform fibers with diameters of approximately 20 nm. NFBC was produced as uniform water suspensions, the yield of which was 3.4 g/L from cultivation in 7.5 L medium in a 10-L jar fermenter. The bioconversion of waste glycerol to NFBC, which has superior fluidity, moldability, and miscibility, has a wide variety of applications, including potential uses in the medical and materials engineering fields.

Abstract: There is a trend towards the use of novel technologies nowadays, mainly focused on biological processes, for recycling and the efficient utilization of organic residues that can be metabolized by different microorganisms as a source of energy. In the present study the isolation of bacterial strains from six different agro-industrial by-products and waste was performed with the objective of evaluating their hydrolytic capacities and suitability for use in bioconversion of specific substrates. The 34 isolated strains were screened in specific culture media for the production of various hydrolytic enzymes (lipase, protease, cellulase, and amylase). It was found that 28 strains exhibited proteolytic activity, 18 had lipolytic activity, 13 had caseinolytic activity, 15 had amylolytic activity, and 11 strains exhibited cellulolytic activity. The strains that showed the highest hydrolytic capacities with biotechnological potential were selected, characterized genotipically, and identified as Bacillus, Serratia, Enterococcus, Klebsiella, Stenotrophomonas, Lactococcus, and Escherichia genera. It was concluded that the strain isolates have a high potential for use in the bioconversion of agro-industrial waste, both as a pure culture and as a microbial consortium.

Abstract: Global biodiesel production is continuously increasing and it is proportionally accompanied by a huge amount of crude glycerol (CG) as by-product. Due to its crude nature, CG has very less commercial interest; although its pure counterpart has different industrial applications. Alternatively, CG is a very good carbon source and can be used as a feedstock for fermentative hydrogen production. Further, a move of this kind has dual benefits, namely it offers a sustainable method for disposal of biodiesel manufacturing waste as well as produces biofuels and contributes in greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. Two-stage fermentation, comprising dark and photo-fermentation is one of the most promising options available for bio-hydrogen production. In the present study, techno-economic feasibility of such a two-stage process has been evaluated. The analysis has been made based on the recent advances in fermentative hydrogen production using CG as a feedstock. The study has been carried out with special reference to North American biodiesel market; and more specifically, data available for Canadian province, Quebec City have been used. Based on our techno-economic analysis, higher production cost was found to be the major bottleneck in commercial production of fermentative hydrogen. However, certain achievable alternative options for reduction of process cost have been identified. Further, the process was found to be capable in reducing GHG emissions. Bioconversion of 1 kg of crude glycerol (70 % w/v) was found to reduce 7.66 kg CO2 eq (equivalent) GHG emission, and the process also offers additional environmental benefits.

Abstract: Biosurfactant production through a fermentation process involving the biodegradation of soybean oil refining wastes was studied. Pseudomonas aeruginosa MR01 was able to produce extracellular biosurfactant when it was cultured in three soybean oil refinement wastes; acid oil, deodorizer distillate and soapstock, at different carbon to nitrogen ratios. Subsequent fermentation kinetics in the three types of waste culture were also investigated and compared with kinetic behavior in soybean oil medium. Biodegradation of wastes, biosurfactant production, biomass growth, nitrate consumption and the number of colony forming units were detected in four proposed media, at specified time intervals. Unexpectedly, wastes could stimulate the biodegradation activity of MR01 bacterial cells and thus biosurfactant synthesis beyond that of the refined soybean oil. This is evident from higher yields of biodegradation and production, as revealed in the waste cultures (Ydeg|(Soybean oil) = 53.9 % YP/S|(Soybean oil) = 0.31 g g−1, respectively). Although production yields were approximately the same in the three waste cultures (YP/S|(wastes) ≃ 0.5 g g−1), microbial activity resulted in higher yields of biodegradation (96.5 ± 1.13 %), maximum specific growth rate (μ max = 0.26 ± 0.02 h−1), and biosurfactant purity (89.6 %) with a productivity of 14.55 ± 1.10 g l−1, during the bioconversion of soapstock into biosurfactant. Consequently, applying soybean oil soapstock as a substrate for the production of biosurfactant with commercial value has the potential to provide a combination of economical production with environmental protection through the biosynthesis of an environmentally friendly (green) compound and reduction of waste load entering the environment. Moreover, this work inferred spectrophotometry as an easy method to detect rhamnolipids in the biosurfactant products.