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. 2024 Jan 31;14(7):4315-4323.
doi: 10.1039/d3ra08055b.

Detoxification of corn stover prehydrolysate by different biochars and its effect on lactic acid fermentation

Chun Wang  1 , Yu Shan  2 , Yuli Shen  1 , Weng Fu  1 , Jing Li  3 , David Blersch  4 , Wei Wu  1 , Suan Shi  1 , Lujia Han  1
Affiliations

Detoxification of corn stover prehydrolysate by different biochars and its effect on lactic acid fermentation

Chun Wang et al. RSC Adv. .

Abstract

During the utilization of lignocellulosic biomass such as corn stover, many by-products are produced in the pretreatment process that can severely inhibit the activity of microbes in the fermentation step. To achieve efficient biomass conversion, detoxification is usually required before microbial fermentation. In this study, the prehydrolysate from dilute acid pretreatment of corn stover was used as a lactic acid fermentation substrate. Biochars made from corn stover (CSB), cow manure (CMB), and a mixture of corn stover and cow manure (MB) were applied for the detoxification of the prehydrolysate. All three types of biochar had a porous structure with a specific surface area ranging from 4.08 m2 g-1 (CMB) to 7.03 m2 g-1 (MB). After detoxification, both the numbers of inhibitors and their concentrations in the prehydrolysate decreased, indicating that the biochars prepared in this study were effective in inhibitor removal. The concentration of lactic acid obtained from the prehydrolysate without detoxification was only 12.43 g L-1 after fermentation for 96 h with a productivity of 0.13 g (L h)-1. Although the specific area of CMB was the lowest among the three biochars, the CMB-treated prehydrolysate resulted in the highest lactic acid concentration of 39.25 g L-1 at 96 h with a productivity of 0.41 g (L h)-1. The lactic acid bacteria in the CMB-treated prehydrolysate grew faster than the other two biochars, reaching an OD value of 8.12 at 48 h. The results showed promise for the use of agricultural wastes to make biochar to increase the yield of lactic acid fermentation through the detoxification process.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. SEM images of biochars before (B) and after (A) adsorption.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. FTIR spectra of biochar (B-before; A-after).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. LC spectrum of prehydrolysate before and after detoxification.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. LA fermentation results of prehydrolysate with different biochar detoxification. (a) Glucose consumption rate changes with time. (b) Lactic acid concentration and yield change with time.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Changes of LA concentration in different periods after detoxification with different biochar.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6. OD values during lactic acid fermentation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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