1-MCP Regulates Ethanol Fermentation and GABA Shunt Pathway Involved in Kiwifruit Quality During Postharvest Storage

Kiwifruit(Actinidia deliciosa)‘Bruno’is prone to accumulate ethanol rapidly after respiratory climacteric during storage at ambient conditions without stresses,which causes quality deterioration of the fruit associated with alcohol off-flavor.For maintaining the postharvest quality of kiwifruit‘Bruno’,the effects of 1.0μL•L^−11-methylcyclopropene(1-MCP)treatment on regulating the ethanol fermentation andγ-aminobutyric acid(GABA)shunt pathway associated with control of alcohol off-flavor were investigated during storage at room temperature(24±1)°C for 27 days.The results showed that 1-MCP treatment significantly reduced the respiration rate,ethylene production,decay rate,ascorbic acid(AsA)loss,and delayed the decline in the firmness and titratable acidity(TA),and the increase in total soluble solid(TSS)in kiwifruit.Furthermore,1-MCP treatment effectively inhibited the increases in contents of acetaldehyde,ethanol,and GABA along with the suppressed activities of key enzymes involved in ethanol fermentation and GABA shunt pathway,such as pyruvate decarboxylase(PDC),alcohol dehydrogenase(ADH),glutamate decarboxylase(GAD),and GABA-transaminase(GABA-T)in kiwifruit during storage.In conclusion,1-MCP treatment efficiently regulated the ethanol fermentation and GABA shunt pathway by delaying the ripening process to avoid the alcohol off-flavor development,thereby contributed to maintaining the quality of the kiwifruit.

Ethanol Fermentation by High-Stress-Tolerance Aquatic Yeasts and Their Mutants

Bioethanol is thought to be a renewable source of energy, because the biomasses used to make ethanol, such as sugar cane and its residual substance, molasses, are resources that can be continuously produced. But the practical use of ethanol to replace fossil fuels or atomic energy has been limited, because the production efficiencies of ethanol in relation to its substrates are not so high. Thus, for industrial production of the bioethanol, yeast fermentation would ideally be carried out in biomasses containing more highly concentrated carbohydrates. However, the environmental stresses in highly concentrated cultures might weaken the yeast’s physiological activities. From various kinds of aquatic yeast with stress tolerance, Torulaspora derbrueckii F2-11 and Wicherhamomyces anomalus AN2-64 were selected as candidates for high-sugar-tolerance yeasts as they showed remarkable growth in the YPD + sorbitol (600 g/L) medium at 25°C for 120 hrs. When the amounts and kinds of sugar alcohols in the cells of the two strains were measured in cultures containing 20 g/L or 400 g/L of D-glucose, maltose, or sucrose, the main two sugar alcohols that accumulated as the sugar concentration increased were glycerol and arabitol. Mutation by ethyl methanesulfonate of the parent strains T. derbrueckii F2-11 and W. anomalus AN2-64 induced mutants F2-11M or AN2-64M, which showed higher sugar, heat, and ethanol tolerances than their respective parents. Ethanol productivities and sugar assimilation activities of the mutants were also higher than those of the parents in the 25% (v/v) molasses.

IN SITU SEPARATION OF ETHANOL DURING BATCH FERMENTATION WITH CO_2 STRIPPING AND ACTIVATED CARBON ADSORPTION

In situ separation of ethanol during batch fermentation with CO_2 stripping and activated carbon adsorption was studied. The higher initial glucose concentration and fermentation rate were reached due to the elimination of ethanol inhibition on the cell growth by means of CO_2 stripping. The stripped ethanol vapor was selectively adsorbed by an activated carbon column. The conde(?)sate desorbed from the adsorption column can be higher than 50% by weight. Ar unstructured model was used to simulate the experimental data satisfactorily.

Optimum Condition of Rice Straw Hydrolysate Detoxification with Charcoal Powder for Cellulosic Ethanol Production by Pichiastipitis TISTR 5806

In this study, the rice straw was hydrolysed by using 3.0% （w/v） H2SO4 followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. The rice straw hydrolysate obtained was treated with charcoal powder and the optimal condition of detoxification with charcoal powder was investigated. The results showed that the optimal condition for detoxification was the use of 2.5 grams of non-sterilized charcoal powder in 100 mL hydrolysate. The mixture was operated at pH 5.0, 30 ℃ and 160 rpm for 5 min. The detoxified hydrolysate was then used for ethanol production using P. stipitis TISTR 5806. The condition of the detoxified hydrolysate fermentation which gave maximum ethanol concentration of 21 g/L was at pH 5.0, 30 ℃ and 160 rpm for 72 h. Without detoxification, the P. stipitis TISTR 5806 could not however utilize the hydrolysate for ethanol production.

Learning control of fermentation process with an improved DHP algorithm

Control of the fed-batch ethanol fermentation processes to produce maximum product ethanol is one of the key issues in the bioreactor system.However,ethanol fermentation processes exhibit complex behavior and nonlinear dynamics with respect to the cell mass,substrate,feed-rate,etc.An improved dual heuristic programming algorithm based on the least squares temporal difference with gradient correction(LSTDC) algorithm(LSTDC-DHP) is proposed to solve the learning control problem of a fed-batch ethanol fermentation process.As a new algorithm of adaptive critic designs,LSTDC-DHP is used to realize online learning control of chemical dynamical plants,where LSTDC is commonly employed to approximate the value functions.Application of the LSTDC-DHP algorithm to ethanol fermentation process can realize efficient online learning control in continuous spaces.Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of LSTDC-DHP,and show that LSTDC-DHP can obtain the near-optimal feed rate trajectory faster than other-based algorithms.

Development of a new cleaner production process for cassava ethanol

A new cleaner production process for cassava ethanol has been developed, in which the thin stillage by-product was treated initially by anaerobic digestion, and the digestate further processed by hydrogen-form cation exchange resin before being recycled as process water to make mash for the next ethanol fermentation batch.Thus wastewater was eliminated and freshwater and energy consumption was significantly reduced. To evaluate the new process, ten consecutive batches of ethanol fermentation and anaerobic digestion at lab scale were carried out. Average ethanol production in the recycling batches was 11.43%(v/v) which was similar to the first batch, where deionized(DI) water was used as process water. The chemical oxygen demand(COD) removal rate reached 98% and the methane yield was 322 ml per gram of COD removed, suggesting an efficient and stable operation of the anaerobic digestion. In conclusion, the application of the new process can contribute to sustainable development of the cassava ethanol industry.

Optimization of dilute acid hydrolysis of Enteromorpha

Acid hydrolysis is a simple and direct way to hydrolyze polysaccharides in biomass into fermentable sugars. To produce fermentable sugars effectively and economically for fuel ethanol, we have investigated the hydrolysis of Enteromorpha using acids that are typically used to hydrolyze biomass： H2SO4, HC1, H3PO4 and C4H404 （maleic acid）. 5%（w/w） Enteromorpha biomass was treated for different times （30, 60, and 90 min） and with different acid concentrations （0.6, 1.0, 1.4, 1.8, and 2.2%, w/w） at 121~C. H2SO4 was the most effective acid in this experiment. We then analyzed the hydrolysis process in H2SO4 in detail using high performance liquid chromatography. At a sulfuric acid concentration of 1.8% and treatment time of 60 min, the yield of ethanol fermentable sugars （glucose and xylose） was high, （230.5 mg/g dry biomass, comprising 175.2 mg/g glucose and 55.3 mg/g xylose）, with 48.6% of total reducing sugars being ethanol fermentable. Therefore, Enteromorpha could be a good candidate for production of fuel ethanol. In future work, the effects of temperature and biomass concentration on hydrolysis, and also the fermentation of the hydrolysates to ethanol fuel should be focused on.