Production of ethanol and feed by high dry matter hydrolysis and fermentation of palm kernel press cake

Henning Jørgensen, Anand Ramesh Sanadi, Claus Felby, Niels Erik Krebs Lange, Morten Fischer, Steffen Ernst

    41 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Palm kernel press cake (PKC) is a residue from palm oil extraction presently only used as a low protein feed supplement. PKC contains 50% fermentable hexose sugars present in the form of glucan and mainly galactomannan. This makes PKC an interesting feedstock for processing into bioethanol or in other biorefinery processes. Using a combination of mannanase, β-mannosidase, and cellulases, it was possible without any pretreatment to hydrolyze PKC at solid concentrations of 35% dry matter with mannose yields up to 88% of theoretical. Fermentation was tested using Saccharomyces cerevisiae in both a separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) setup. The hydrolysates could readily be fermented without addition of nutrients and with average fermentation yields of 0.43±0.02 g/g based on consumed mannose and glucose. Employing SSF, final ethanol concentrations of 70 g/kg was achieved in 216 h, corresponding to an ethanol yield of 70% of theoretical or 200 g ethanol/ kg PKC. Testing various enzyme mixtures revealed that including cellulases in combination with mannanases significantly improved ethanol yields. Processing PKC to ethanol resulted in a solid residue enriched in protein from 17% to 28%, a 70% increase, thereby potentially making a high-protein containing feed supplement.

    Original languageEnglish
    JournalApplied Biochemistry and Biotechnology
    Volume161
    Issue number1-8
    Pages (from-to)318-332
    Number of pages15
    ISSN0273-2289
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2010

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Production of ethanol and feed by high dry matter hydrolysis and fermentation of palm kernel press cake'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this