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Review
. 2015 Mar 5:14:27.
doi: 10.1186/s12934-015-0200-1.

Biobutanol from cheese whey

Manuel Becerra  1 , María Esperanza Cerdán  2 , María Isabel González-Siso  3
Affiliations
Review

Biobutanol from cheese whey

Manuel Becerra et al. Microb Cell Fact. .

Abstract

At present, due to environmental and economic concerns, it is urgent to evolve efficient, clean and secure systems for the production of advanced biofuels from sustainable cheap sources. Biobutanol has proved better characteristics than the more widely used bioethanol, however the main disadvantage of biobutanol is that it is produced in low yield and titer by ABE (acetone-butanol-ethanol) fermentation, this process being not competitive from the economic point of view. In this review we summarize the natural metabolic pathways for biobutanol production by Clostridia and yeasts, together with the metabolic engineering efforts performed up to date with the aim of either enhancing the yield of the natural producer Clostridia or transferring the butanol production ability to other hosts with better attributes for industrial use and facilities for genetic manipulation. Molasses and starch-based feedstocks are main sources for biobutanol production at industrial scale hitherto. We also review herewith (and for the first time up to our knowledge) the research performed for the use of whey, the subproduct of cheese making, as another sustainable source for biobutanol production. This represents a promising alternative that still needs further research. The use of an abundant waste material like cheese whey, that would otherwise be considered an environmental pollutant, for biobutanol production, makes economy of the process more profitable.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scheme of the biobutanol synthesis metabolic pathways in Clostridia and yeast.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of the different lactose transport and utilization by Clostridium species. A) Phosphoenol-pyruvate (PEP)-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS) pathway and B) Lactose permease pathway.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Butanol productivity (g/L h) versus Butanol concentration (g/L) of Clostridium species growing on lactose medium. Circle: Batch fermentation; Square: Continuous fermentation; Triangle: Fermentation coupled with an in situ recovery process. Green: C. acetobutylicum P262 strain; Red: C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824 strain; Yellow: C. acetobutylicum NCIB 2951 strain; Blue: C. beijerinckii. Numbers: references.
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