Process integration for simultaneous saccharification, fermentation, and recovery (SSFR): Production of butanol from corn stover using Clostridium beijerinckii P260

A simultaneous saccharification, fermentation, and recovery (SSFR) process was developed for the production of acetone-butanol-ethanol (AB or ABE), of which butanol is the main product, from corn stover employing Clostridium beijerinckii P260. Of the 86 g L−1 corn stover provided, over 97% of the sugars were released during hydrolysis and these were fermented completely with an ABE productivity of 0.34 g L−1 h−1 and yield of 0.39. This productivity is higher than 0.31 g L−1 h−1 when using glucose as a substrate demonstrating that AB could be produced efficiently from lignocellulosic biomass. Acetic acid that was released from the biomass during pretreatment and hydrolysis was also used by the culture to produce AB. An average rate of generation of sugars during corn stover hydrolysis was 0.98 g L−1 h−1. In this system AB was recovered using vacuum, and as a result of this (simultaneous product recovery), 100% sugars were used by the culture.