Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation for biobutanol production from corn starch via ABE fermentation

Abstract

The preparation of bio-butanol from corn starch requires saccharification and fermentation processes. In view of the fact that the pH value at the later stage of fermentation is applicable to the enzymatic hydrolysis of glucoamylase, the effects of simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) were compared in this paper. 11.2 g/L butanol and 21.5 g/L total solvent could be obtained by the SSF process, while the yield was 9.74 g/L butanol and 17.2 g/L total solvent in the SHF process. The SSF process required a shorter overall process time (120 h) than the SHF process (144 h) and resulted in a large increase of 38.9% in butanol productivity (2.25 g/Ld for SSF compared to 1.62 g/Ld for SHF). These results show that the application of SSF can reduce the fermentation overall time, simplify the fermentation process, and reduce equipment investment and operating costs.