Bioconversion Study of Olive Tree Biomass Hemicellulosic Hydrolysates by Candida guilliermondii at Different Scales for Ethanol and Xylitol Production

Abstract

Hemicellulosic biomass from olive-tree pruning (OTPB) was used as a raw material in order to produce a hemicellulosic hydrolysate to be fermented with the non-traditional yeast Candida guilliermondii FTI 20037 to obtain ethanol and xylitol. The main objectives of this research were to study the most relevant kinetic parameters involved in the bioconversion process and the correlation between stirred-tank bioreactor and agitated Erlenmeyer flask fermentation. In a first scale-up (using Erlenmeyer flasks) incubated on a rotary shaker at 200 rpm, fermentation assays were performed to determine the most convenient process conditions and the adaptation of the microorganism to the concentrated OTPB and added nutrients culture medium. The best conditions (2.5 kg m−3 of initial yeast cells, pH of 5.5 and 30 °C) were set in a bench bioreactor. A comparative study on ethanol and xylitol production was conducted in two scale scenarios, obtaining different results. In the bioreactor, 100% of D-glucose and partially D-xylose were consumed to produce an ethanol yield of 0.28 kg kg−1 and an ethanol volumetric productivity of 0.84 kg dm−3 h−1 as well as a yield and volumetric productivity in xylitol of 0.37 kg kg−1 and 0.26 kg dm−3 h−1, respectively. The kinetic results allowed increasing the action scale and obtaining more real results than the previous steps to enable mini-plant and industrial scaling.