Impact of Organic Acids Supplementation to Hardwood Spent Sulfite Liquor as Substrate for the Selection of Polyhydroxyalkanoates-Producing Organisms

Diogo Queirós,Simona Rossetti,Catarina Rangel,Paulo Costa Lemos,Luísa Seuanes Serafim

doi:10.3390/fermentation4030058

Diogo Queirós, Simona Rossetti + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation4030058

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Abstract

The effectiveness of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production process from a waste stream is determined by the selection of a suitable mixed microbial culture (MMC). In this work, a feedstock from the paper industry, hardwood spent sulfite liquor (HSSL), supplemented with short-chain organic acids (SCOAs) to simulate a fermented effluent, was used as substrate to enrich a MMC in PHA-storing microorganisms. A stable culture was quickly established, and during the accumulation step the selected MMC reached a maximum PHA content of 34.6% (3HB:3HV-76:24). The bacterial community was analyzed through FISH analysis. Bacteria belonging to the four main classes were identified: Betaproteobacteria (44.7 ± 2.7%), Alphaproteobacteria (13.6 ± 1.3%) and Gammaproteobacteria (2.40 ± 1.1%) and Bacteroidetes (9.20 ± 3.8%). Inside the Betaproteobacteria class, Acidovorax (71%) was the dominant genus.

Highlights

The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) on its Preliminary Statistics of 2015 onPaper and board production states that the production of the member countries fell slightly, by around0.3% in 2015 after a decrease of 0.2% in 2014 [1]
The Navigator Company invested 159 million euros to dominate the European market in tissue paper production and ALTRI group invested in the manufacture of soluble paste-used in the textile industry for the manufacture of viscose, with increasing demand projected from China
The objectives of this work were to investigate the viability of enriching an mixed microbial culture (MMC) in PHAs-storing organisms with hardwood spent sulfite liquor (HSSL) supplemented with short-chain organic acids (SCOAs) and to follow the microbial community evolution through biomolecular analysis

Summary

Introduction

The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) on its Preliminary Statistics of 2015 onPaper and board production states that the production of the member countries fell slightly, by around0.3% in 2015 after a decrease of 0.2% in 2014 [1]. The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) on its Preliminary Statistics of 2015 on. The Navigator Company invested 159 million euros to dominate the European market in tissue paper production and ALTRI group invested in the manufacture of soluble paste-used in the textile industry for the manufacture of viscose, with increasing demand projected from China. This represents a massive side production of wastes and residues that could be valorized in a lignocellulosic-based biorefinery [2,3]. Part of residues of pulp and paper industry is usually burnt for energy production. A significant fraction of these residues, namely sulfite spent liquors (SSL), can be converted into value-added

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