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Continuous production of acetone, n-butanol, and ethanol (ABE) was carried out using immobilized cells of Clostridium acetobutylicum DSM 792 using glucose and sugar mixture as a substrate. Among various lignocellulosic materials screened as a support matrix, coconut fibers and wood pulp fibers were found to be promising in batch experiments. With a motive of promoting wood-based bio-refinery concept, wood pulp was used as a cell holding material. Glucose and sugar mixture (glucose, mannose, galactose, arabinose, and xylose) comparable to lignocellulose hydrolysate was used as a substrate for continuous production of ABE. We report the best solvent productivity among wild-type strains using column reactor. The maximum total solvent concentration of 14.32 g L was obtained at a dilution rate of 0.22 h with glucose as a substrate compared to 12.64 g L at 0.5 h dilution rate with sugar mixture. The maximum solvent productivity (13.66 g L h) was obtained at a dilution rate of 1.9 h with glucose as a substrate whereas solvent productivity (12.14 g L h) was obtained at a dilution rate of 1.5 h with sugar mixture. The immobilized column reactor with wood pulp can become an efficient technology to be integrated with existing pulp mills to convert them into wood-based bio-refineries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clostridium beijerinckii DSM 6423 was studied using different continuous production methods to give maximum and stable production of isopropanol and n-butanol. In a single-stage continuous culture, when wood pulp was added as a cell holding material, we could increase the solvent productivity from 0.47 to 5.52 g L h with the yield of 54% from glucose. The overall solvent concentration of 7.51 g L (39.4% isopropanol and 60.6% n-butanol) with the maximum solvent productivity of 0.84 g L h was obtained with two-stage continuous culture. We were able to run the process for more than 48 overall retention times without losing the ability to produce solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reports on the stability of red beetroot colour used as pre-extrusion colouring of extrudates. Initially, process parameters such as feed moisture content, screw speed and die temperature were optimised using red beetroot colour for pre-extrusion colouring. The colour was monitored in terms of L* and a* values, and also as the percent retention. The optimised conditions that gave maximum retention of colour were a moisture content of 16%, temperature of 160 °C and screw speed of 170 rpm. The effect of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate on colour stability of extrudates during processing, and that of light and packaging materials (polyethylene and metallised polyethylene) during storage at ambient conditions were also evaluated. Addition of 1% citric acid reduced the colour requirement by 37.5%. Metallised polyethylene showed better retention of colour as evident from the time required for 50% loss of colour. The study highlights on the use of red beetroot colour for safe and attractive red-coloured extrudates, and could create a commercial impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous study by the authors, it was found that benzene-ethanol extraction (BAE) could remove some of the lignin fragments from pretreated bamboo substrate and therefore cause a decrease in the lignin content of the substrate. In the present study, lignin was isolated by dioxane extraction of enzyme hydrolysis of ball-milled substrate (CEL method), and the effects of BAE on lignin molecular weight (MW) were determined. Results indicated that hydrothermal pretreatment could facilitate lignin isolation substantially when CEL method was used. Lignin fragments with low MW were more sensitive to BAE, and therefore, evident increase in both weight average molecular weight (Mw) and number average molecular weight (Mn) was observed; especially, the increase rate of Mn was more than 2.5 times of Mw when degradation prevailed. However, subtle changes were found in Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectra between the lignin samples with and without BAE; the solubility of lignin in benzene-ethanol solution was more dependent on the MW level than on the functional groups in lignin structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-covalent interaction of alcohol dehydrogenase with polysaccharides was studied using three neutral and three anionic polysaccharides. The process of interaction of alcohol dehydrogenase with gum Arabic was optimized with respect to the ratio of enzyme to gum Arabic, pH, and molarity of buffer. Alcohol dehydrogenase-gum Arabic complex formed under optimized conditions showed 93 % retention of original activity with enhanced thermal and pH stability. Lower inactivation rate constant of alcohol dehydrogenase-gum Arabic complex within the temperature range of 45 to 60 °C implied its better stability. Half-life of alcohol dehydrogenase-gum Arabic complex was higher than that of free alcohol dehydrogenase. A slight increment was observed in kinetic constants ( K and V) of gum Arabic-complexed alcohol dehydrogenase which may be due to interference by gum Arabic for the binding of substrate to the enzyme. Helix to turn conversion was observed in complexed alcohol dehydrogenase as compared to free alcohol dehydrogenase which may be responsible for observed stability enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]