Fermentation of Sugarbeet Pulp for Ethanol Production Using Bioengineered Klebsiella oxytoca Strain P2

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January-March 2001 Fennentation of Pulp for Ethanol Production 19 Fermentation of Sugarbeet Pulp for Ethanol Production Using Bioengineered Klebsiella oxytoca Strain P2 Misty D. Sutton and Joy B. Doran Peterson' Department ofbiology, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI48859 ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to evaluate ethanol production from galacturonic acid and from sugarbeet pulp by bioengineered ethanologenic Klebsiella oxytoca strain P2. K. oxytoca P2 fermentation of galacturonic acid (20 g VI) produced a higher level of acetic acid (6.8 g L- I ) than of either ethanol (2.2 g L -I) or succinic acid (1.6 g L- I ). Sugarbeet pulp fermentations were conducted with and without fungal enzyme supplementation. Without fungal enzyme supplementation, K. oxytoca P2 produced 5.4 g ethanol L- I from pelleted pulp and 7.0 g ethanol VI from pressed pulp. Inclusion of fungal enzymes (60 mg cellulase and 30 mg pectinase/ g dw sbp) increased ethanol production to 15.5 g ethanol L- I using peueted pulp, while fermentation of pressed pulp produced 18.3 g ethanol L -I. A preincubation step at 4rC and ph 5.0 before fermentation of the pressed beet pulp decreased viscosity, increased mixing, and increased ethanol production from 18.3 g VI at 120 hours offermentation to 21 g ethanol VI by 96 hours of fermentation. At a conversion rate of 0.2 g ethanol! g dry weight sugarbeet pulp, over 97 million gallons ofethanol could be produced in the United States from 1 x 10 6 tons (dry weight) ofsugarbeet pulp using this process and Klebsiella oxytoca P2 as the biocatalyst. Additional key words: biomass conversion, recombinant, alternative fuel 'Corresponding author's address: Dr. Joy B. Doran Peterson, 127 Brooks Hall, Dept. ofbiology, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, J\.1I 48859 email: Joy.Doran@cmich.edu Telephone Number: 517-774-7585 Fax Number: 517-774-3462

20 Journal of Sugar Beet Research Vol 38, No 1 Development of large scale fuel ethanol production from renewable resources is an attractive alternative to petroleum based fuel production, due to envirorunental concerns, limited fossil fuels, and an increased dependence on imported crude oil. Currently, agricultural residues, municipal waste paper, waste from the pulp and paper industry and other lignocellulosic residues could be used to produce approximately 100 billion gallons offuel grade ethanol in the United States (Himmel et a!. 1997). Processing of pectin-rich crops such as sugarbeet generates residues abundant in carbohydrates which can be fermented to ethanol (Grohmann and Bothast 1994). Over 400 million tons of sugarbeet are produced annually worldwide with 20 to 30 million tons produced in the United States alone (Clarke and Edye 1996). On a dry weight (d wt) basis, over 1.6 x 10 6 tons of sugarbeet pulp remain after extraction of sucrose. During sucrose extraction, a pressed form of sugarbeet pulp (75% moisture) is generated and is dried and pelletized (10% moisture) for sale as cattle feed (Coons 1971). Sugarbeet pulp is primarily composed of polymers of cellulose (20-24%), hemicellulose (25-36%), pectin (19-25%), and lignin (1-5.6%) on a dry weight basis (Bertin et al. 1988; Michel et a!. 1988; Wen et a!. 1988). High carbohydrate and low lignin content make sugarbeet pulp an attractive substrate for ethanol production, however, the polymers must be broken down into simpler carbohydrates. After reducing the polymers to monomeric carbohydrates, beet pulp contains. primarily arabinose, glucose, and galacturonic acid, along with smaller amounts of other sugars (Micard et al. 1996; Table 1). Table 1: Composition of Carbohydrates in Sugarbeet Pulp. % Dry Weight of Total Solids Polymeric Component Major Monomeric Carbohydrate Yielded from Polymer % Dry Weight of Total Solids 20-24 cellulose glucose 21-24 25-36 hemicellulose arabinose galactose xylose mannose 19-25 pectin or uronic acids galacturonic acid rhamnose 20-25 4-6 1-3 1-2 20-22 2-3 (adapted from Bertin et al. 1988; Michel et a!. 1988; Wen et al. 1988; Micard et a!. 1996)

January-March 2001 Fermentation of Pulp for Ethanol Production 21 Klebsiella oxytoca was bioengineered by the addition of two genes involved in ethanol production, pyruvate decarboxylase (Pdc) and alcohol dehydrogenase (adh), that were originally isolated from another bacteritun, Zymomonas mobilis (Ohta et ai. 1991). Insertion of these genes into the chromosome ofk. oxytoca effectively diverted normal production ofneutral end-products and mixed acids to ethanol as the major fermentation end product (Wood and Ingram 1992; Doran and Ingram 1993; Bothast et a!. 1994; Doran et al. 1994; Ingram and Doran 1995). The bioengineered K oxytoca, now designated strain P2, can produce ethanol from xylan, xylose, arabinose, and glucose (Ohta et al. 1991 ; Burchhardt and Ingram 1992; Bothast et a!. 1994). This organism exhibits the native ability to transport and metabolize cellobiose, eliminating the need for exogenous cellobiase to degrade cellobiose into two glucose molecules (Wood and Ingram 1992). K. oxytoca P2 does not posses the ability to degrade the polymers found in plant biomass to monomeric form. However, previous studies have shown that Klebsiella oxytoca P2 can be used as a biocatalyst for the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of cellulosic substrates such as sugar cane bagasse (Doran et al. 1994) and mixed office waste paper (Brooks and Ingram 1995). K. oxytoca P2 provides cellobiase activity, however, fermentations must be supplemented with commercially available enzymes for the plant polymers to be broken into smaller carbohydrates. During simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, the simple sugars released via enzymatic activity are consumed by the fermenting microorganism, thus relieving end-product inhibition of the enzymes. The purpose of thjs study was to evaluate ethanol production from galacturonic acid and from sugarbeet pulp in pressed and pelletized forms by bioengineered ethanologenic K. oxytoca strain P2. Fermentations were conducted with and without fungal enzyme supplementation. A preincubation step with substrate and enzymes together before inoculation with Koxytoca P2 was compared with fermentations where all components were added in one step (simultaneous saccharification and fermentation). MATERIALS AND METHODS Klebsiella oxytoca Strain P2. K. oxytoca strain P2 was provided by Dr. Lonnie Ingram (University of Florida) and has been previously described (Ohta et a!. 1991 ; Wood and Ingram 1992). The bacterial strain was maintained on Luria Bertani (LB) medium containing per liter: 20 g glucose, 10 g tryptone, 5 g yeast extract,s g NaCl, and 40 mg chloramphenicol solidified with 15 g agar. K oxytoca P2 was prepared for fermentation experiments as previously described (Beall et a!. 1991; Doran et a!. 1994). Essentially, plates were

22 Journal of Sugar Beet Research Vol 38, No 1 incubated at 30 C for 24 hours. A single isolated colony was used to inoculate a 500 ml flask containing 400 ml LB medium supplemented with 5 % (w/v) glucose. Inocula were incubated for 18 to 24 hours at 30 C without agitation. Cells were then harvested by centrifugation and resuspended in fermentation medium at an initial cell density of330 mg dry weight per liter. Substrate preparation. An aqueous solution ofd-galacturonic acid was filter sterilized and added to autoclaved LB medium for a final concentration of 20 g galacturonic acid L- l. Fermentations were also conducted in LB medium with no carbohydrate addition. Sugarbeet pulp was provided by Monitor Sugar Company (Bay City, Michigan). Sugarbeet pulp pellets were ground in a coffee mill in order to reduce particle size. The moisture content was determined by drying the sugarbeet pulp in tared aluminum weighing dishes in a gravity convection oven for 24 h at 105 C. After 24 h, the dishes were cooled in a dessicator, and weighed. Moisture was reported as the gravimetric moisture content. All moisture detemlinations were performed in triplicate for each experiment. Pelleted and pressed sugarbeet pulp were sterilized by autoclaving at 121 C for 20 minutes as a slurry in approximately 100 ml water. Fermentation Experiments. Fermentations were conducted in modified 500 ml fermenters with a total working volume of350 ml essentially as previously described (Beall et al. 1991). Distilled water and double strength complex nutrients (LB) were sterilized by autoclaving at 121 C for 20 minutes. Initial ph was adjusted with 1 N HCI while 2M KOH was used to maintain ph during the femlentation process. Fermentations of (20 g L- l ) galacturonic acid were conducted at 30 C and ph 6.0 for 77 hours. Fermentations with sugarbeet pulp (106 g d wt L- l ) were maintained at 35 C and ph 5.5 for 168 hours. A ph of 6.0 at 30 C was shown to be optimal for ethanol production from monomeric carbohydrates using the bioengineered Escherichia coli strain KOlI and Klebsiella oxytoca strain P2 (Beall et ai., 1991; Bothast et ai., 1994). Fungal enzymes used in the study have an acidic ph optimum and work best at 40 C. Previous studies with crystalline cellulose and sugar cane bagasse (Doran and Ingram 1993; Doran et ai., 1994) found that a ph of 5.5 at 35 C was the best condition for optimizing ethanol production and fungal enzymatic activity in the same fermentation vessel.

January-March 2001 Fermentation of Pulp for Ethanol Production 23 Fungal Enzymes. Commercially available fungal enzyme preparations, Pectinex SP (pectinase) and Celluclast 1.5-L (cellulase) were provided by Novo Nordisk (Franklinton, NC). Enzyme preparations were sterilized by filtration. Enzyme loads for Pectinex and Celluclast were 30 mg and 60 mg per g dry weight of sugarbeet pulp, respectively. Analysis by gas chromatography (GC). Samples (2 ml) were removed at appropriate intervals and measured for ethanol concentration (g L- 1 ) using a Perkin Elmer 8500 gas chromatograph equipped with a DB624 column (J & W Scientific) and a flame ionization detector. An internal standard of isopropanol and external ethanol standards were used in analysis. Oven temperature was 55 C and detector temperature was 250 C. Ethanol yields were corrected for dilution by addition of acid and base during fermentations and determined on the basis of total substrate (dry weight) initially present. All results represent averages from three or more fermentations. Analysis by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Samples containing maximum ethanol concentrations from fermentation ofgalacturonic acid (ascertained by GC) were analyzed using a Waters high performance liquid chromatograph with ultraviolet detection (210 nm). The liquid chromatograph was equipped with an Aminex HPX-87H 300 mm x 7.8 nun column operated at a temperature of 22 C. External organic acid standards included oxalic acid, citric acid, malic acid, succinic acid, formic acid, and acetic acid. Quantitation was made by peak area measurement with external standards. Electron Microscopy. Fermentation samples were fixed for six hours at room temperature in 0.1 M phosphate buffer containing 5% glutaraldehyde (ph 7.2). Samples were rinsed in phosphate buffer and washed with distilled water. The samples were subjected to ethanol dehydration in a graded series (30, 70, 95, 100, 100, 100%). Samples were dried using liquid Peldri II (1 part 100% ethanol : 1 part Peldri II) for 1 hour followed by 100% Peldri II for an additional hour. The samples were allowed to solidify and Peldri II was sublimed in a low vacuum chamber overnight. Dry specimens were mounted on stubs, sputter coated with 30 nm ofgold and photographed using a JEOL 840A scanning electron microscope.

24 Journal of Sugar Beet Research Vol 38, No 1 RESULTS Fermentation of galacturonic acid. Klebsiella oxytoca P2 fermentation of galacturonic acid (20 g V ) produced a higher level of acetic acid (6.8 g V) than of either ethanol (2.2 g L -1) or succinic acid (1.6 g L-l), with no lactic acid detected. Approximately 1 g ethanol L-l was obtained from fermentation of LB medium with no additional carbohydrates, indicating additional ethanol production from galacturonic acid (t-test, p<o.ooi). Ethanol production from sugarbeet pulp. Ethanol production from sugarbeet pulp (106 g dw L- 1 ) with and without a fungal enzyme mixture is summarized in Table 2. Without fungal enzyme supplementation, K. oxytoca P2 produced a maximum of 5.4 g ethanol L- 1 from pelleted pulp and 7.0 g ethanol L-l from pressed pulp. Inclusion of fungal enzymes (60 mg cellulase/ g dw sbp, 30 mg pectinase/ g dw sbp) increased ethanol production from both forms of pulp (ANOVA, p<o.ooi). Fermentation of pelleted pulp with added enzymes by K. oxytoca P2 produced a maximum of 15.5 g ofethanol V while fermentation ofpressed pulp with the same enzyme loading produced 18.33 g ethanol L -1 (Table 2). Since the largest ethanol levels were obtained using pressed pulp, further fermentation experiments were conducted with this substrate. Effects of preincubation step. Optimal conditions for maximum enzymatic activity of Pectinex SP and Cellulclast 1.5 were determined to be 45-50 C, ph 4.0-5.0 by Novo Nordisk, Franklinton, NC. These conditions are more extreme than those favoring the growth and activity of K. oxytoca P2 (Doran and Ingram 1993; Ingram et al. 1997). Therefore, we examined effects of partial enzymatic saccharification prior to fermentation. A preincubation step was performed at 42 C and ph 5,0 before femlentation of the pressed beet pulp was initiated with K. oxytoca strain P2. After 24 hours, the temperature and ph were adjusted to 35 C and 5.5 and K. oxytoca strain P2 was added to the fermentation vessel. This preincubation step decreased viscosity and increased mixing (observed) and increased ethanol production from 18.3 g L- 1 at 120 hours of fermentation to 21 g ethanol L- 1 by 96 hours offermentation (Figure I and Table 2). Fermentations of beet pulp conducted in water. The use oflb medium in large scale fermentations is economically unfeasible. Therefore, fermentations were conducted in water to determine

Table 2: Ethanol production by Klebsiella oxytoca strain P2 from D-galacturonic acid (20 g L'!, 30 C, ph 6.0), or pelleted or pressed sugar beet pulp (106 g dwt L'!, 35 C, ph 5.5), with and without fungal enzymes. AverageKOH Maximum Time to Ethanol YieW added Ethanol Max ethanol (g ethanov g Substrate Replicates Enzymes' (ml L'!) (g L'!) ± SDtt (hours) substrate) '-< &; Q ~ '"... g. IV o GaIt 6 18.5 2.2 ± 0.2 24 0.12 Pellett 3 4.3 5.4 ± 0.2 48 0.05 Pellett 3 + 42.4 15.5 ± 1.0 48 0.15 Pressed 3 3.7 7.6 ± 1.0 96 0.06 Pressed 3 + 36.6 18.3 ± 1.0 96 0.18 Pressed ~ 4 + 18.5 21.0 ± 0.5 96 0.20 (enz. pre) t Gal=galacturonic acid (20 g L '!) t Pellet=Ground Pellets (10% moisture), (106 g dry weight L'!) Pressed=Pressed pulp, (75% moisture), (106 g dry weight L'!) ~ (-)=None; (+)=Celluc1ast (60 mg/g dw sbp), Pectinex (30 mg/g dw sbp) N Corrected for dilution by base addition tt Standard Deviation "li ~ (I) g o ~ :l ọ.., '"0 E. "0 0'... ttl S o:> o ~ '"0 a Q.. ::: ~ o :l IV V.

26 Journal of Sugar Beet Research Vol 38, No 1...Preincubation No Preincubation 25.------------------------------------------. :::J 20 c:.2 15 ~ c: III o c: o 10 '0 c: IV..c:: W 5 O+-------_r------~--------+_------_r------~ o 24 48 72 96 120 Time after inoculation (hours) Figure 1. Effects of substrate preincubation with Pectinex SP (30 mglg dw sbp) and Celluc1ast I.5-L (60 mg/ g dw sbp) on ethanol production from sugarbeet pulp (106 g dw, L- 1 ) using Klebsiella oxytoca P2 as biocatalyst. Substrate preincubation with enzymes at 42 C, ph 5.0 for 24 hours before titration to ph 5.5 and inoculation. with Klebsiella oxytoca P2 (.), compared with the same enzyme load with no preincubation (.). Experiments were perfonned in triplicate and error bars denote standard deviations. the amount of ethanol produced if supplemental LB medium was not added to provide supplemental nutrients. Fennentations were conducted using a preincubation step and ethanol production was compared to parallel experiments conducted in LB medium. Comparable yields of ethanol were obtained under both fennentation conditions at all sampling times, indicating that sugarbeet pulp contains sufficient nutrients to sustain fennenting bacteria (t-test, p>o.os) (Figure 2). Ultrastructural Analysis. Samples of pressed sugarbeet pulp were removed and analyzed during partial saccharification and fennentation stages. Following 24 hours of enzymatic treatment and the additional 72 hours of fennentation, the pulp

January-March 2001 Fermentation of Pulp for Ethanol Production 27 LBmedlum -k -Water 26 ~ 20 c 0.., c.. ~ 15 u Ii c.. 6 u '0 5 w 10 24 48 72 96 120 Time afer Inoculation (hours) Figure 2. Ethanol production from fermentation of pressed sugarbeet pulp (75% moisture, 106 g dw sbp L -1) conducted in LB medium (.) or sterile water only (... ), with preincubation of pulp and fungal hydrolytic enzymes (cellulase, 60 mgl g dw sbp; pectinase, 30 mg/g dw sbp). Experiments were performed in triplicate and error bars denote standard deviations. experienced a dramatic reduction in palticle size compared to that observed at the start of the preincubation step (Fig. 3A, C, E). After 24 hours of enzymatic hydrolysis, much of the ragged surface of the pulp was removed as sugars were hydrolyzed (Figs. 3B, D). Seventy-two hours of fermentation by K. oxytoca P2 produced a relatively smooth pulp surface (Fig. 3F). This polishing effect is consistent with previous investigations of cellulose (Din et a1. 1991; Doran et al. 1994). DISCUSSION Sugarbeet pulp is a potential substrate for ethanol production using genetically engineered ethanologenic K. oxytoca P2. Sugarbeet pulp is especially attractive for fuel production because it is an abundant domestic renewable resource. K. oxytoca P2 can produce ethanol from glucose and arabinose (Ohta et al. 1991; Burchhardt and Ingram 1992; Bothast et al. 1994), two of the predominant carbohydrates found in sugarbeet pulp. This study demonstrates that K. oxytoca P2 can also produce ethanol from galacturonic acid, another major constituent of sugarbeet pulp. However, K. oxyloca P2 produced lower levels of ethanol and higher levels of acetate and succinate

28 Journal of Sugar Beet Research Vol 38, No 1 Figure 3 (A, B). ScaMing electron micrographs ofsaccharification and fermentation samples. Sugarbeet pulp prior to enzymatic treatment at 20X and 2000X, (A, B) respectively.

January-March 2001 Fermentation of Pulp for Ethanol Production 29 Figure 3 (C, D). Scanning electron micrographs of saccharification and fermentation samples. Sugarbeet pulp after 24 hours of enzymatic hydrolysis at 20X and 2000X, (C, D) respectively.

30 Journal of Sugar Beet Research Vol 38, No I Figure 3 (E, F). Scanning electron micrographs of saccharification and fermentation samples. Sugarbeet pulp following 72 hours of fennentation by Klebsiella oxytoca P2 at 20X and 2000X (E, F) respectively. Klebsiella oxytoca cells are visible in F.

January-March 2001 Fem1entation of Pulp for Ethanol Production 31 than those obtained in studies conducted using ethanologenic recombinant E. coli K011 (Grohmann et al. 1994). Utilization of galacturonic acid may be a limiting factor in ethanol production from sugarbeet pulp using K. oxytoca P2 as the biocatalyst. The discovery that comparable levels of ethanol are produced from pelleted and pressed fonus of sugarbeet pulp presents an economic advantage. Drying and pelletizing pulp currently expends 25-40% of the total annual fuel energy costs for many sugar refineries (Coons 1971), making pressed pulp the substrate of choice. No mechanical pretreatment was required for comparable levels of ethanol from pressed pulp. Fermentations by K. oxytoca P2 using sugar cane bagasse with a 24-hour preincubation period and Genencor Spezyme CE produced only 7 g of ethanolll after 168 hours (Doran et al. 1994). In this study, fermentations conducted under similar conditions produced 21 g of ethanolll in 96 hours. Furthermore, additional nutrient supplementation was not required for ethanol production from beet pulp. This finding supports claims by researchers that the high content of mineral nutrients in pectin-rich substrates often makes the addition of nutritional supplementation unnecessary (Grohmann and Bothast 1994). In addition, the use of water in large-scale fermentations would reduce overall costs in ethanol production from biomass because the use of LB medium in large-scale fermentations is not currently economically feasible. At a conversion rate of 0.2 g ethanol/ g dry weight sugarbeet pulp, over 97 million gallons of ethanol could be produced in the United States from I x 10 6 tons (dry weight) of sugarbeet pulp using this process and Klebsiella oxytoca P2 as the biocatalyst. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank Dr. Lonnie Ingram for providing K. oxytoca P2 and Novo Nordisk for Celluclast and Pectinex enzymes. Sugarbeet pulp was provided by Paul Pfenninger of Monitor Sugar in Bay City, Michigan. We also thank the Department of Biology of Central Michigan University for a Graduate Assistantship for MS. This research was funded in part by the State of Michigan Research Excellence Fund and a grant from the Beet Sugar Development Foundation.

32 Journal of Sugar Beet Research Vol 38, No 1 LITERATURE CITED Beall, D.S., K. Ohta and L.O. Ingram. 1991. Parametric studies of ethanol production from xylose and other sugars by recombinant Escherichia coli. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 38: 296-303. Bertin, C., X. Roman and J-F. Thibault. 1988. Structure and properties of sugarbeet fibers. J. Sci. Food Agric. 44: 15-29. Bothast, R.J., B.C. Saha, A. V. Flosenzier and L.O. Ingram. 1994. Fermentation of I-arabinose, oxytoca d-xylose, and d-glucose by ethanologenic recombinant Klebsiella strain P2. Biotechno!. Lett. 16: 401-406. Brooks, T.A. and L.O. Ingram. 1995. Conversion of mixed waste office paper to ethanol by genetically engineered Klebsiella oxytoca strain P2. Biotechnol. Prog. 11 : 619-625. Burchhardt, G. and L.O. Ingram. 1992. Conversion ofxylan to ethanol by ethanologenic strains of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella oxytoca. App!. Environ. Microbio!. 58: 1128-1133. Clarke, M.A. and L.A. Edye. 1996. Sugarbeet and sugarcane as renewable resources, Pages 229-247. In: Fuller G., McKeon T.A., Bills D.D. (eds.) Agricultural materials as renewable resources: non-food and industrial applications, ACS Symposium Series 647, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. Coons, F.F. 1971. Dried pulp, pages 587-595. In: McGinnis RA (ed) Beetsugar technology, 2 ud ed, Beet Sugar Development Foundation. Din, N., N. Gilkes, B. Tekant, R. Miller, Jr., R.A.J. Warren and D.G. Kilburn. 1991. Non-hydrolytic disruption of cellulose fibers by the binding domain of a bacterial cellulase. Biotechno!. 9: 1096-1099 Doran, J.B. and L.O. Ingram. 1993. Fermentation of crystalline cellulose to ethanol by Klebsiella oxytoca containing chromosomally integrated Zy momonas mobilis genes. Biotecimol. Prog. 9: 533-538.

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