Recycling of spent oil bleaching earth as source of glycerol for the anaerobic production of acetone, butanol, and ethanol with Clostridium diolis and lipolytic Clostridium lundense

Abstract

A major part of edible oil is subjected to bleaching procedures, primarily with minerals applied as adsorbers. Their recycling is currently done either by regaining the oil via organic solvent extraction or by using the spent bleaching earth (SBE) as additive for animal feed, etc. As a new method, the reutilization of the by‐product SBE for the microbiologic formation of acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) is presented as proof‐of‐concept. The SBE was taken from a palm oil cleaning process. The recycling concept is based on the application of lipolytic clostridia strains. Due to considerably long fermentation times, co‐fermentation with Candida rugosa and enzymatic hydrolyses of the bound oil with a subsequent clostridia fermentation are shown as alternative routes. Anaerobic fermentations under comparison of different clostridia strains were performed with glycerol media, enzymatically hydrolyzed palm oil and SBE. Solutes, side product compositions and productivities were quantified via HPLC. A successful production of ABE solutes from SBE has been done with a yield of 0.15 g butanol per gram of bound glycerol. Thus, the biotechnological recycling of the waste stream is possible in principle. Inhibition of the substrate suspension has been observed. A chromatographic ion‐exchange of substrates increased the biomass concentration.