Building block itaconic acid from left-over biomass

• Published in: Biomass conversion and biorefinery 2017-03, Vol.7 (1), p.23-35
• Main Authors: Pedroso, Giovanni B., Montipó, Sheila, Mario, Débora Alves N., Alves, Sydney H., Martins, Ayrton F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biotechnology; Energy; Fermentation; Hydrolysis; Itaconic acid; Lignocellulose; Multivariate analysis; Original Article; Reaction time; Renewable and Green Energy; Yeast
• ISSN: 2190-6815; 2190-6823
• DOI: 10.1007/s13399-016-0210-1

The use of rice husks for the sustainable production of the priority building block itaconic acid was studied under multivariate conditions. With the use of 3.4 % ( v v −1 ) H 3 PO 4 , 145 °C (48 bar), and 28-min hydrolysis time, 44.4 g sugar L −1 was produced with a yield of 266.4 mg sugar g −1 rice husks. Using 3.8 % ( v v −1 ) HNO 3 , the best hydrolysis condition was 135 °C (45 bar) and 35-min reaction time, when 42.0 g sugar L −1 was produced with a yield of 252.0 mg sugar g −1 rice husks. This is higher than the corresponding results of those obtained in the literature. The fermentation was conducted under optimized multivariate conditions, at 30 °C, using phosphoric hydrolysate and an addition of 10 g L −1 yeast extract, pH 6.0 adjusted with CaO (s) and the use of Aspergillus terreus (ATCC 10020). Besides using no supplementation, the optimized experiment produced 1.9 g itaconic acid L −1 (yield of 49 mg g −1 sugar), similar results to that obtained with supplementation found in the literature for other kinds of lignocellulosic materials.