Isobutanol production from empty fruit bunches.

Although isobutanol has been successfully produced from glucose-based media by various microbes, only a few studies have reported isobutanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, the feasibility of producing isobutanol from hydrothermally-pretreated empty fruit bunches (EFBs) was analyzed. Firstly, the Escherichia coli JK209 strain was constructed; subsequently, optimal fermentation conditions for isobutanol production using this strain were determined. Next, the raw EFBs were hydrothermally pretreated at 190 °C for 15 min, and the pretreated EFBs were hydrolyzed using 10 FPU of cellulase/g glucan. Finally, the resulting hydrolysate was fermented at 25 °C for 84 h, and isobutanol give rise to the yield of 0.26 g isobutanol/g glucose. These results imply that 80.1 g of isobutanol could be produced from 1 kg dry weight of EFBs. To our knowledge, this is the first feasibility study of isobutanol production from pretreated EFBs. Image 1 • Isobutanol was produced from empty fruit bunches (EFBs). • EFBs were hydrothermally pretreated and were hydrolyzed using a cellulase. • EFB hydrolysate was fermented to produce isobutanol using an engineered E. coli. • By using this process, 80.1 g of isobutanol could be produced from 1 kg of EFBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]