Utilization of Agro Residue Corncob for Production of Acetone-Butanol Using Clostridium acetobutylicum and Process Optimization through RSM

Abstract

Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) fermentation is an important industrial process for acetone and butanol production. In early 1950 due to the rise of cheaper petrochemical synthesis and increased cost of fermentation raw materials, these are predominately produced through chemical synthesis which relies on crude oil supply. With the growing concerns of environmental issues, depleting fossil resources and increasing crude oil price, interest has returned to fermentative production, not only as a chemical but also as an alternative biofuel. To overcome the limitations of conventional ABE fermentation such as low titer and high substrate cost emphases areas under research are utilization of renewable and low-cost feedstocks, development of novel fermentation processes, alternative product recovery technologies and metabolic engineering of solvent-producing microorganisms. In the present study the rotatable central composite design and response surface technique that was employed for optimization work in many studies is successfully used. The optimum conditions for acetone production of corncob were found as temperature 36.71°C, pH 4.16 and sugar (g/l) 99.94, butanol production of corncob were found as temperature 35.44°C, pH 4.79 and sugar (g/l) 91.96.