Cj. Rivard et al., MEASUREMENT OF THE INHIBITORY POTENTIAL AND DETOXIFICATION OF BIOMASSPRETREATMENT HYDROLYSATE FOR ETHANOL-PRODUCTION, Applied biochemistry and biotechnology, 57-8, 1996, pp. 183-191
The Microtox assay represents a rapid, accurate, and reproducible meth
od for determining general microbial toxicity. This assay was used to
evaluate the relative toxicity of a variety of hydrolysate samples der
ived from dilute-acid and alkaline biomass pretreatment. Toxicity is e
licited from biomass degradation products, such as furfural, hydroxyme
thyl furfural, and acetic acid, generated during pretreatment. Microto
x results indicate that the pretreatment samples examined ranged from
9 to 71 toxicity units (TU). Correlations of TU and sample absorbance
at several wavelengths were evaluated for all sample series. Sample TU
values best agreed with absorbance at 230 nn, but the unsatisfactory
fit suggests that absorbance should not be used as an absolute measure
of sample toxicity. Microtox data for pretreatment hydrolysate sample
s were correlated with the inhibition experienced by the ethanologenic
yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain D(5)A, during the simultaneous
saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process of pretreated biomass
. None of the alkaline pretreatment conditions produced inhibition dur
ing SSF (data not shown). However, the acid pretreatment conditions di
d produce a wide range of inhibitory and noninhibitory hydrolysates. I
n general, fermentation was inhibited for acid-pretreated hydrolysate
samples with values exceeding 45 TU. Preliminary studies that focused
on reducing hydrolysate sample toxicity (detoxification) indicate that
adding perlite and zeolite had little effect. However, the use of cha
rcoal, a universal flocculent, or ion-exchange resins significantly re
duced sample toxicity, holding promise for the efficient bioconversion
of pretreated biomass to ethanol. Moreover, the developed toxicity me
asurement assay can quickly monitor the quality of the pretreatment pr
ocess. In this way, biomass conversion operation processes can be reli
ably controlled at the pilot and commercial scales.