Enhanced alcohol titre and ratio in carbon monoxide-rich off-gas fermentation of Clostridium carboxidivorans through combination of trace metals optimization with variable-temperature cultivation

Abstract

Bioconversion of C1 gases to produce chemicals has good application prospects. Here, the combination of trace metals optimization using a statistical method with variable-temperature cultivation was used to enhance alcohol synthesis during CO-rich off-gas fermentation by Clostridium carboxidivorans P7. Based on ATCC medium 1754, the optimum concentration of the trace metals was found to be 5-fold Ni2+, Co2+, SeO42+, and WO42+; 3.48-fold Cu2+; 0.55-fold MoO42+; 0.5-fold Zn2+ and (NH4)2SO4·FeSO4·6H2O; and additional 44.32μM FeCl3·6H2O. The production of alcohol and organic acid changed to 4.40g/L and 0.50g/L from 2.16g/L and 2.37g/L, respectively, yielding an increase of alcohol-to-product ratio from 47.7% to 89.8%. By fermenting with the optimized medium and timed control of the incubation temperature (37°C [0–24h]–25°C [24–144h]), the alcohol titre further increased to 6.97g/L with 1.67g/L butanol and 1.33g/L hexanol, exceeding those previously reported for strain P7.