Xylitol production from sugarcane bagasse hydrolyzate in fluidized bed reactor. Effect of air flowrate.

Cells of Candida guilliermondii immobilized onto porous glass spheres were cultured batchwise in a fluidized bed bioreactor for xylitol production from sugarcane bagasse hemicellulose hydrolyzate. An aeration rate of only 25 mL/min ensured minimum yields of xylose consumption (0.60) and biomass production (0.14 g(DM)/g(Xyl)), as well as maximum xylitol yield (0.54 g(Xyt)/g(Xyl)) and ratio of immobilized to total cells (0.83). These results suggest that cell metabolism, although slow because of oxygen limitation, was mainly addressed to xylitol production. A progressive increase in the aeration rate up to 140 mL/min accelerated both xylose consumption (from 0.36 to 0.78 g(Xyl)/L.h) and xylitol formation (from 0.19 to 0.28 g(Xyt)/L.h) but caused the fraction of immobilized to total cells and the xylitol yield to decrease up to 0.22 and 0.36 g(Xyt)/g(Xyl), respectively. The highest xylitol concentration (17.0 g(Xyt)/L) was obtained at 70 mL/min, but the specific xylitol productivity and the xylitol yield were 43% and 22% lower than the corresponding values obtained at the lowest air flowrate, respectively. The concentrations of consumed substrates and formed products were used in material balances to evaluate the xylose fractions consumed by C. guilliermondii for xylitol production, complete oxidation through the hexose monophosphate shunt, and cell growth. The experimental data collected at variable oxygen level allowed estimating a P/O ratio of 1.35 mol(ATP)/mol(O) and overall ATP requirements for biomass growth and maintenance of 3.4 mol(ATP)/C-mol(DM).