skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Ethanol production via fungal decomposition and fermentation of biomass. Semiannual progress report, October 1981-March 1982

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5140585

During the first half of FY 1982, a few additional Fusarium isolates were obtained and screened for their cellulolytic and fermenting abilities. Experiments with an isolate from Fusarium strain ANL 22-760 showed that cellulose was the best inducer of FPase and CMCase, while glucose, lactose, and xylose almost completely inhibited cellulase production. Tests with Fusarium strain ANL 11182 indicated that a cellulase production of 2.5 IU/mL in 14 days was obtained at 28/sup 0/C in a medium of 1% cellulose and in the presence of 0.7 mg/mL extracellular protein. Increasing the nitrogen content of the medium stimulated cell growth but decreased cellulase production. The ratio of CMCase to FPase remained nearly constant at about 10:1 during fermentations with varying concentrations of cellulose and nitrogen sources. Several of the new isolates and mutants, when screened for their fermenting ability in glucose, produced ethanol at a conversion efficiency close to that achieved in yeast fermentations. Fermentations of 1% glucose by isolates from strain ANL 99A-78 repeatedly produced 4.3 mg/mL ehtanol within 48 hours. A few of the new isolates and mutants produced, in consecutive fermentations of 1% xylose, up to 4.2 mg/mL ethanol within 48 hours. Addition of glucose to higher concentrations of xylose increased the yield of ethanol.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-31-109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
5140585
Report Number(s):
ANL/EES-TM-187; ON: DE82020401
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English