How does Clostridium acetobutylicum produce butanol?
How does Clostridium acetobutylicum produce butanol?
Butanol is produced biologically by acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation using solventogenic Clostridium species. Clostridium acetobutylicum YM1 is a solvent-producing strain that was isolated from local agricultural soil in Malaysia and has been used for butanol and hydrogen production2,3.
Who invented ABE fermentation?
Weizmann
After just more than 100 years of history of industrial acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation, patented by Weizmann in the UK in 1915, butanol is again today considered a promising biofuel alternative based on several advantages compared to the more established biofuels ethanol and methanol.
What is solvent fermentation?
Solventogenesis is the biochemical production of solvents (usually acetone and butanol) by Clostridium species. It is the second phase of ABE fermentation.
What does Clostridium ferment?
Clostridia are strict anaerobes that can ferment a wide variety of substrates including monosaccharides and polysaccharides (Jones and Woods, 1986).
What was the importance of ABE fermentation?
It was developed by chemist Chaim Weizmann and was the primary process used to produce acetone, which was needed to make cordite, a substance essential for the British war industry during World War I.
Does Clostridium tetani ferment glucose?
Clostridia are anaerobic bacteria that ferment a wide variety of carbon sources, including glucose, galactose, cellobiose, mannose, xylose, and arabinose [37,38].
How does Clostridium acetobutylicum produce acetone and butyl alcohol?
This process was discovered by Weizmann. 2941 He found that a microorganism then called Clostridium acetobutylicum produces acetone and butyl alcohol from saccharide substrates. This fermentation first produces butanoic acid, accompanied by minor amounts of propanoic and acetic acids, and oxygen.
How is Clostridium acetobutylicum distinguished from other species?
C. acetobutylicum cannot be identified by their metabolic products alone, as solvent may be absent and several related species are also able to form butanol. Table 1 shows the biochemical tests presently in use to differentiate C. acetobutylicum from these species. C. beijerinckii was also used for industrial fermentations.
What are the forespores of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824?
Light-microscopy picture of forespores of Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. Cells were stained in an iodine solution. The endospores are visible as a white refractive part of the cell, whereas the stored polysaccharide granulose shows typical reddish-brown color.
What is the first phase of ABE fermentation?
ABE fermentation process includes two phases. The first phase is known as the acidogenic phase. During this phase, the acid formation pathways are activated in which carbohydrate substrates particularly glucose are fermented to organic acids. Acetate, butyrate, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide are the major products of this phase.