Conversion of bagasse cellulose into ethanol

The study conducted by Arkenol was designed to test the conversion of feedstocks such as sugar cane bagasse, sorghum, napier grass and rice straw into fermentable sugars, and then ferment these sugars using natural yeasts and genetically engineered Zymomonis mobilis bacteria (ZM). The study did convert various cellulosic feedstocks into fermentable sugars utilizing the patented Arkenol Concentrated Acid Hydrolysis Process and equipment at the Arkenol Technology Center in Orange, California. The sugars produced using this process were in the concentration range of 12--15%, much higher than the sugar concentrations the genetically engineered ZM bacteria had been developed for. As a result, while the ZM bacteria fermented the produced sugars without initial inhibition, the completion of high sugar concentration fermentations was slower and at lower yield than predicted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Natural yeasts performed as expected by Arkenol, similar to the results obtained over the last four years of testing. Overall, at sugar concentrations in the 10--13% range, yeast produced 850090% theoretical ethanol yields and ZM bacteria produced 82--87% theoretical yields in 96 hour fermentations. Additional commercialization work revealed the ability to centrifugally separate and recycle the ZM bacteria after fermentation, slight additional benefits from mixed culture ZM bacteria fermentations, and successful utilization of defined media for ZM bacteria fermentation nutrients in lieu of natural media