Production of acetic acid by Clostridium thermoaceticum

Sustainable management of food waste; pre-treatment strategies, techno-economic assessment, bibliometric analysis, and potential utilizations: A systematic review

Food waste (FW) contains many nutritional components such as proteins, lipids, fats, polysaccharides, carbohydrates, and metal ions, which can be reused in some processes to produce value-added products. Furthermore, FW can be converted into biogas, biohydrogen, and biodiesel, and this type of green energy can be used as an alternative to nonrenewable fuel and reduce reliance on fossil fuel sources. It has been demonstrated in many reports that at the laboratory scale production of biochemicals using FW is as good as pure carbon sources. The goal of this paper is to review approaches used globally to promote turning FW into useable products and green energy. In this context, the present review article highlights deeply in a transdisciplinary manner the sources, types, impacts, characteristics, pre-treatment strategies, and potential management of FW into value-added products. We find that FW could be upcycled into different valuable products such as eco-friendly green fuels, organic acids, bioplastics, enzymes, fertilizers, char, and single-cell protein, after the suitable pre-treatment method. The results confirmed the technical feasibility of all the reviewed transformation processes of FW. Furthermore, life cycle and techno-economic assessment studies regarding the socio-economic, environmental, and engineering aspects of FW management are discussed. The reviewed articles showed that energy recovery from FW in various forms is economically feasible.

Enhanced production of acetic acid through bioprocess optimization employing response surface methodology and artificial neural network

In this study, acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are isolated from fruit waste and cow dung on the basis of acetic acid production potential. The AAB were identified based on halo-zones produced in the Glucose-Yeast extract-Calcium carbonate (GYC media) agar plates. In the current study, maximum acetic acid yield is reported to be 4.88 g/100 ml from the bacterial strain isolated from apple waste. With the help of RSM (Response surface methodology) tool, glucose and ethanol concentration and incubation period, as independent variable showed the significant effect of glucose concentration and incubation period and their interaction on the AA yield. A hypothetical model of artificial neural network (ANN) was also used to compare the predicted value from RSM. Acetic acid production through the biological route can be the sustainable and clean approach to utilizing food waste in circular economy approach.

Acetic acid bioproduction: The technological innovation change

Acetic acid is an organic acid of great importance globally and the demand of this product is currently increasing. The production of this acid has consequently aroused more and more interest over the years, especially for more sustainable processes. From a biological point of view, acetic acid can be produced by acetogenesis using inorganic substrates like CO₂ or CO (with acetogenic bacteria) and aerobic fermentation (with acetic acid bacteria or fungi). With the aim of investigating the progress of technological innovation, the methodology applied by this review was an analysis of the international patents with the Espacenet platform, which ensured a worldwide invention overview. Another criterion was the selection of a precise period of time, from 1990 to 2020. A patent review is able to create an overview of the inventions designed for the real scale implementation, providing a whole picture of the state of the art of the technological innovation change. In addition, the most representative works of literature, that consider the influence of operating conditions (T, pH, oxygenation), have been analysed for each process. The present review, with an innovative approach focused on the technological innovation change, highlighted the ongoing interest for acetic acid bioproduction by acetogenic and acetic acid bacteria. The number of patents related to acetic acid bacteria was consistent also in the past years, but recently the interest is moving forward the utilization of genetic engineering (36% of the patents) and new substrates, like agriculture waste (26% of the patens), responding to circular economy principles. On the other hand, the acetic acid production by acetogenic bacteria is most recent, with over the 90% of the patents developed in the last 10 years. In this case the interest is mainly focused on the use of synthesis gas as substrate, that could increase the process sustainability.

Organic waste streams as feedstock for the production of high volume-low value products

Valorisation of organic wastes to produce industrially relevant commodity products is a sustainable, cost-effective and viable alternative providing a green platform for chemical production while simultaneously leading to waste disposal management. In the present study, organic wastes such as agricultural residue-derived sugars, oilseed meals, poultry waste and molasses were used for substituting expensive organic fermentation medium components. Moorella thermoacetica and Aurantiochytrium limacinum were adapted on these waste-derived hydrolysates to produce high volume-low value products such as bio-acetic acid (80% theoretical yields) and oil-rich fish/animal feed (more than 85% dry cell weight as compared with conventional nutrient sources) respectively. Use of these waste-derived nutrients led to ~ 75% and ~ 90% reduction in media cost for acetic acid and oil-rich biomass production respectively as compared with that of traditionally used high-priced medium components. The strategy will assist in the cost reduction for high volume-low value products while also ensuring waste recovery.

Deep insights into the network of acetate metabolism in anaerobic digestion: focusing on syntrophic acetate oxidation and homoacetogenesis

Acetate is a pivotal intermediate product during anaerobic decomposition of organic matter. Its generation and consumption network is quite complex, which almost covers the most steps in anaerobic digestion (AD) process. Besides acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis, syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) replaced acetoclastic methanogenesis to release the inhibition of AD at some special conditions, and the importance of considering homoacetogenesis had also been proved when analysing anaerobic fermentations. Syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB), with function of SAO, can survive under high temperature and ammonia/ volatile fatty acids (VFAs) concentrations, while, homoacetogens, performed homoacetogenesis, are more active under acidic, alkaline and low temperature (10°C-20°C) conditions, This review summarized the roles of SAO and homoacetogenesis in AD process, which contains the biochemical reactions, metabolism pathways, physiological characteristics and energy conservation of functional bacteria. The specific roles of these two processes in the subprocess of AD (i.e., acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis) were also analyzed in detail. A two phases anaerobic digester is proposed for protein-rich waste(water) treatment by enhancing the functions of homoacetogens and SAOB compared to the traditional two-phases anaerobic digesters, in which the first phase is fermentation phase including acidogens and homoacetogens for acetate production, and second phase is a mixed culture coupling syntrophic fatty acids bacteria, SAOB and hydrogenotrophic methanogens for methane production. This review provides a new insight into the network on production and consumption of acetate in AD process.

High acetone-butanol-ethanol production in pH-stat co-feeding of acetate and glucose

We previously reported the metabolic analysis of butanol and acetone production from exogenous acetate by (13)C tracer experiments (Gao et al., RSC Adv., 5, 8486-8495, 2015). To clarify the influence of acetate on acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) production, we first performed an enzyme assay in Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4. Acetate addition was found to drastically increase the activities of key enzymes involved in the acetate uptake (phosphate acetyltransferase and CoA transferase), acetone formation (acetoacetate decarboxylase), and butanol formation (butanol dehydrogenase) pathways. Subsequently, supplementation of acetate during acidogenesis and early solventogenesis resulted in a significant increase in ABE production. To establish an efficient ABE production system using acetate as a co-substrate, several shot strategies were investigated in batch culture. Batch cultures with two substrate shots without pH control produced 14.20 g/L butanol and 23.27 g/L ABE with a maximum specific butanol production rate of 0.26 g/(g h). Furthermore, pH-controlled (at pH 5.5) batch cultures with two substrate shots resulted in not only improved acetate consumption but also a further increase in ABE production. Finally, we obtained 15.13 g/L butanol and 24.37 g/L ABE at the high specific butanol production rate of 0.34 g/(g h) using pH-stat co-feeding method. Thus, in this study, we established a high ABE production system using glucose and acetate as co-substrates in a pH-stat co-feeding system with C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4.

Engineered respiro-fermentative metabolism for the production of biofuels and biochemicals from fatty acid-rich feedstocks

Although lignocellulosic sugars have been proposed as the primary feedstock for the biological production of renewable fuels and chemicals, the availability of fatty acid (FA)-rich feedstocks and recent progress in the development of oil-accumulating organisms make FAs an attractive alternative. In addition to their abundance, the metabolism of FAs is very efficient and could support product yields significantly higher than those obtained from lignocellulosic sugars. However, FAs are metabolized only under respiratory conditions, a metabolic mode that does not support the synthesis of fermentation products. In the work reported here we engineered several native and heterologous fermentative pathways to function in Escherichia coli under aerobic conditions, thus creating a respiro-fermentative metabolic mode that enables the efficient synthesis of fuels and chemicals from FAs. Representative biofuels (ethanol and butanol) and biochemicals (acetate, acetone, isopropanol, succinate, and propionate) were chosen as target products to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed platform. The yields of ethanol, acetate, and acetone in the engineered strains exceeded those reported in the literature for their production from sugars, and in the cases of ethanol and acetate they also surpassed the maximum theoretical values that can be achieved from lignocellulosic sugars. Butanol was produced at yields and titers that were between 2- and 3-fold higher than those reported for its production from sugars in previously engineered microorganisms. Moreover, our work demonstrates production of propionate, a compound previously thought to be synthesized only by propionibacteria, in E. coli. Finally, the synthesis of isopropanol and succinate was also demonstrated. The work reported here represents the first effort toward engineering microorganisms for the conversion of FAs to the aforementioned products.

Metabolic engineering for production of biorenewable fuels and chemicals: contributions of synthetic biology

Production of fuels and chemicals through microbial fermentation of plant material is a desirable alternative to petrochemical-based production. Fermentative production of biorenewable fuels and chemicals requires the engineering of biocatalysts that can quickly and efficiently convert sugars to target products at a cost that is competitive with existing petrochemical-based processes. It is also important that biocatalysts be robust to extreme fermentation conditions, biomass-derived inhibitors, and their target products. Traditional metabolic engineering has made great advances in this area, but synthetic biology has contributed and will continue to contribute to this field, particularly with next-generation biofuels. This work reviews the use of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology in biocatalyst engineering for biorenewable fuels and chemicals production, such as ethanol, butanol, acetate, lactate, succinate, alanine, and xylitol. We also examine the existing challenges in this area and discuss strategies for improving biocatalyst tolerance to chemical inhibitors.

Old acetogens, new light

Acetogens utilize the acetyl-CoA Wood-Ljungdahl pathway as a terminal electron-accepting, energy-conserving, CO(2)-fixing process. The decades of research to resolve the enzymology of this pathway (1) preceded studies demonstrating that acetogens not only harbor a novel CO(2)-fixing pathway, but are also ecologically important, and (2) overshadowed the novel microbiological discoveries of acetogens and acetogenesis. The first acetogen to be isolated, Clostridium aceticum, was reported by Klaas Tammo Wieringa in 1936, but was subsequently lost. The second acetogen to be isolated, Clostridium thermoaceticum, was isolated by Francis Ephraim Fontaine and co-workers in 1942. C. thermoaceticum became the most extensively studied acetogen and was used to resolve the enzymology of the acetyl-CoA pathway in the laboratories of Harland Goff Wood and Lars Gerhard Ljungdahl. Although acetogenesis initially intrigued few scientists, this novel process fostered several scientific milestones, including the first (14)C-tracer studies in biology and the discovery that tungsten is a biologically active metal. The acetyl-CoA pathway is now recognized as a fundamental component of the global carbon cycle and essential to the metabolic potentials of many different prokaryotes. The acetyl-CoA pathway and variants thereof appear to be important to primary production in certain habitats and may have been the first autotrophic process on earth and important to the evolution of life. The purpose of this article is to (1) pay tribute to those who discovered acetogens and acetogenesis, and to those who resolved the acetyl-CoA pathway, and (2) highlight the ecology and physiology of acetogens within the framework of their scientific roots.

Feasibility of hydrogen production in thermophilic mixed fermentation by natural anaerobes

The biological sludge from an animal wastewater treatment plant was treated to enrich hydrogen-producing mixed bacteria, and effects on hydrogen yield were investigated during anaerobic fermentation at 55 degrees C. Enrichment of hydrogen-producing bacteria was conducted at pH adjustment of inocula to 3 and 5 with and without additional heat treatment (NHT and HT). The enriched mixed bacteria were cultivated at initial pHs of 5, 6, and 7 with synthetic organic wastewater containing different levels of nitrogen (2.0 and 0.8 g/l as total nitrogen) under static batch conditions. The main effects of heat treatment and enrichment pH were significant on hydrogen production. There was no significant effect of different nitrogen concentrations on hydrogen production. The methane-free biogas contained hydrogen levels of up to 64% for a fermentative condition that showed maximum hydrogen evolution (at culture pH 5 after enrichment at pH 5 with HT). The dominating intermediate metabolites were acetate, n-butyrate, and ethanol. Yields of produced hydrogen were significantly dependent upon levels of n-butyrate.

Development of ethanologenic bacteria

The utilization of lignocellulosic biomass as a petroleum alternative faces many challenges. This work reviews recent progress in the engineering of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella oxytoca to produce ethanol from biomass with minimal nutritional supplementation. A combination of directed engineering and metabolic evolution has resulted in microbial biocatalysts that produce up to 45 g L(-1) ethanol in 48 h in a simple mineral salts medium, and convert various lignocellulosic materials to ethanol. Mutations contributing to ethanologenesis are discussed. The ethanologenic biocatalyst design approach was applied to other commodity chemicals, including optically pure D: (-)- and L: (+)-lactic acid, succinate and L: -alanine with similar success. This review also describes recent progress in growth medium development, the reduction of hemicellulose hydrolysate toxicity and reduction of the demand for fungal cellulases.

Acetate and ethanol production from H2 and CO2by Moorella sp. using a repeated batch culture

The growth inhibition of Moorella sp. HUC22-1 by undissociated acetic acid was analyzed using a non-competitive inhibition model coupled with a pH inhibition model. In the cells grown on H2 and CO2, the inhibition constant, K(p) of the undissociated acetic acid was 6.2 mM (164 mM as the total acetate at pH 6.2, pKa = 4.795, 55 degrees C), which was 1.5-fold higher than that obtained in cells grown on fructose. When a pH-controlled batch culture was performed using a fermentor at pH 6.2 with H2 and CO2, a maximum of 0.92 g/l of dry cell weight and 339 mM of acetate were produced after 220 h, which were 4.4- and 6.8-fold higher than those produced in the pH-uncontrolled batch culture, respectively. In order to reduce acetate inhibition in the culture medium, a repeated batch culture with cell recycling was performed at a constant pH with H2 and CO2. At a pH of 6.2, the total acetate production reached 840 mmol/l-reactor with 4.7 mmol/l-reactor of total ethanol production after 420 h. When the culture pH was maintained at 5.8, which was the optimum for ethanol production, the total ethanol production reached 15.4 mmol/l-reactor after 430 h, although the total acetate production was decreased to 675 mmol/l-reactor.

Physiology of the thermophilic acetogen Moorella thermoacetica

Moorella thermoacetica (originally isolated as Clostridium thermoaceticum) has served as the primary acetogenic bacterium for the resolution of the acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) or Wood-Lijungdahl pathway, a metabolic pathway that (i) autotrophically assimilates CO2 and (ii) is centrally important to the turnover of carbon in many habitats. The purpose of this article is to highlight the diverse physiological features of this model acetogen and to examine some of the consequences of its metabolic capabilities.

Modeling of sodium acetate recovery from aqueous solutions by electrodialysis

The main engineering parameters (i.e., ion transport numbers in solution and electro-membranes; effective solute and water transport numbers; effective membrane surface area, membrane surface resistances, and limiting current intensity) affecting the recovery of sodium acetate from model solutions by electrodialysis (ED) were determined in accordance with a sequential experimental procedure. Such parameters allowed a satisfactory simulation of a few validation tests carried out under constant or step-wisely variable current intensity. The performance of this ED process was characterized in terms of a current efficiency (omega) of about 93% in the constant-current region, a water transport number (t(W)) of about 15, and a specific energy consumption (epsilon) increasing from 0.14 to 0.31 kWh/kg for a solute recovery yield of 95% as the current density (j) was increased from 112 to 337 A/m2. The specific resistance of the anion- or cation-exchange membranes were found to be three or two times greater than those measured in aqueous NaCl solutions and are to be used to design and/or optimize ED stacks involved in the downstream processing of acetic acid fermentation broths.

Physiology of the thermophilic acetogen Moorella thermoacetica

Moorella thermoacetica (originally isolated as Clostridium thermoaceticum) has served as the primary acetogenic bacterium for the resolution of the acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) or Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, a metabolic pathway that (i) autotrophically assimilates CO2 and (ii) is centrally important to the turnover of carbon in many habitats. The purpose of this article is to highlight the diverse physiological features of this model acetogen and to examine some of the consequences of its metabolic capabilities.

Improvement of acetate production from lactose by growing Clostridium thermolacticum in mixed batch culture

AIMS

The objective of this study was to increase the acetate production by Clostridium thermolacticum growing on lactose, available as a renewable resource in the milk and whey permeate from the cheese industry.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Experiments for increased acetate productivity by thermophilic anaerobes grown on lactose were carried out in batch cultures. Lactose at concentration of 30 mmol l(-1) (10 g l(-1)) was completely degraded by Cl. thermolacticum and growth rate was maximal. High concentrations of by-products, ethanol, lactate, hydrogen and carbon dioxide were generated. By using an efficient hydrogenotroph, Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicus, in a defined thermophilic anaerobic consortium (58 degrees C) with Cl. thermolacticum and the acetogenic Moorella thermoautotrophica, the hydrogen partial pressure was dramatically lowered. As a consequence, by-products concentrations were significantly reduced and acetate production was increased.

CONCLUSION

Through efficient in situ hydrogen scavenging in the consortium, the metabolic pattern was modified in favour of acetate production, at the expense of reduced by-products like ethanol.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The use of this thermophilic anaerobic consortium opens new opportunities for the efficient valorization of lactose, the main waste from the cheese industry, and production of calcium-magnesium acetate, an environmentally friendly road de-icer.

Fermentation of cellulose to acetic acid by Clostridium lentocellum SG6: induction of sporulation and effect of buffering agent on acetic acid production

AIMS

To determine the growth, correlation between sporulation and acetic acid production and effect of buffering agent at high substrate cellulose concentrations of the strain Clostiridium lentocellum SG6.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The strain SG6 was grown in cellulose mineral salt medium containing cellulose (Whatman No. 1 filter paper, Whatmore International Ltd., Maidstone, UK) or cellobiose. The strain fermented cellulose even after several transfers on cellobiose medium. The formation of endospores on third day onwards indicated the lowering of pH in the medium because of the formation of acetic acid. Maintaining the pH 7.2 at higher substrate concentrations resulted in increase of biomass, cellulose fermentation, acetic acid production, etc.

CONCLUSIONS

The strain SG6, with its high fermentation yields and sporulating character can become a potential strain for acetic acid production and also as a probiotic strain in animal nutrition.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The direct conversion of cellulosic biomass to acetic acid can eliminate expensive three-step saccharification, fermentation processes. The strain SG6 can ferment cellulose at high substrate concentrations.

Engineering the metabolism of Escherichia coli W3110 for the conversion of sugar to redox-neutral and oxidized products: homoacetate production

Microbial processes for commodity chemicals have focused on reduced products and anaerobic conditions where substrate loss to cell mass and CO(2) are minimal and product yields are high. To facilitate expansion into more oxidized chemicals, Escherichia coli W3110 was genetically engineered for acetate production by using an approach that combines attributes of fermentative and oxidative metabolism (rapid growth, external electron acceptor) into a single biocatalyst. The resulting strain (TC36) converted 333 mM glucose into 572 mM acetate, a product of equivalent oxidation state, in 18 h. With excess glucose, a maximum of 878 mM acetate was produced. Strain TC36 was constructed by sequentially assembling deletions that inactivated oxidative phosphorylation (deltaatpFH), disrupted the cyclic function of the tricarboxylic acid pathway (deltasucA), and eliminated native fermentation pathways (deltafocA-pflB deltafrdBC deltaldhA deltaadhE). These mutations minimized the loss of substrate carbon and the oxygen requirement for redox balance. Although TC36 produces only four ATPs per glucose, this strain grows well in mineral salts medium and has no auxotrophic requirement. Glycolytic flux in TC36 (0.3 micromol.min(-1).mg(-1) protein) was twice that of the parent. Higher flux was attributed to a deletion of membrane-coupling subunits in (F(1)F(0))H(+)-ATP synthase that inactivated ATP synthesis while retaining cytoplasmic F(1)-ATPase activity. The effectiveness of this deletion in stimulating flux provides further evidence for the importance of ATP supply and demand in the regulation of central metabolism. Derivatives of TC36 may prove useful for the commercial production of a variety of commodity chemicals.

Clostridium lentocellum SG6--a potential organism for fermentation of cellulose to acetic acid

A cellulolytic, acetic acid producing anaerobic bacterial isolate, Gram negative, rod-shaped, motile, terminal oval shaped endospore forming bacterium identified as Clostridium lentocellum SG6 based on physiological and biochemical characteristics. It produced acetic acid as a major end product from cellulose fermentation at 37 degrees C and pH 7.2. Acetic acid production was 0.67 g/g cellulose substrate utilized in cellulose mineral salt (CMS) medium. Yeast extract (0.4%) was the best nitrogen source among the various nitrogenous nutrients tested in production medium containing 0.8% cellulose as substrate. No additional vitamins or trace elemental solution were required for acetic acid fermentation. This is the highest acetic acid fermentation yield in monoculture fermentation for direct conversion of cellulose to acetic acid.