GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENERGY SCIENCE KYOTO UNIVERSITY ADVANCED BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION FROM NIPA PALM SAP VIA ACETIC ACID FERMENTATION NGUYEN VAN DUNG A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 ADVANCED BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION FROM NIPA PALM SAP VIA ACETIC ACID FERMENTATION NGUYEN VAN DUNG Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 1. Palm and palm sap. Origin and transportation of sap inside palm. Methods for tapping palm sap.
Composition of palm sap. Traditional uses of palm sap. Bioethanol production via acetic acid fermentation. 24 Chapter 2 Effect of Gas Conditions on Acetic Acid Fermentation by Moorella thermoacetica 2.
Materials and methods. Reviving freeze-dried culture and preparation of inoculum. Results and discussion. Fermentation of glucose by M.
thermoacetica under sparged N2. Fermentation of glucose by M. thermoacetica under non-sparged N2. Fermentation of glucose by M.
thermoacetica under sparged CO2. Comparison of acetic acid yield and cell growth under 3 gas conditions. 34 Chapter 3 Hydrolysis of Nipa Sap for Acetic Acid Fermentation 3. Materials and methods.
Results and discussion. Chemical composition of nipa sap. Comparison of the catalysts for acetic acid fermentation. Acetic acid fermentation of hydrolyzed nipa sap by M.
47 Chapter 4 Fed-Batch Fermentation of Nipa Sap to Acetic Acid 4. Materials and methods. Batch fermentation of standard sugars. Fed-batch fermentation of hydrolyzed nipa sap.
Results and discussion. Chemical composition of nipa sap. Choice of substrate concentration and feeding time for fed-batch fermentation. Fed-batch fermentation.
Comparison of fermentation performance during each feeding cycle. 59 Chapter 5 Minimal Nutrient Requirements for Acetic Acid Fermentation of Nipa Sap 5. Materials and methods. Acetic acid fermentation.
Results and discussion. Fermentation of hydrolyzed nipa sap and standard sugars with/without nutrient supplement. Fermentation of hydrolyzed nipa sap without inorganics or yeast extract supplement. 67 Chapter 6 Evaluation of Advanced Bioethanol Production from Nipa Sap 6.
Comparative study of bioethanol production by ethanologen and via acetogen. Process for bioethanol production from nipa sap via M. Comparison of ethanol production from nipa sap by ethanologen and via acetogen. Process simulation for bioethanol production from nipa sap by acetogen.
Results and discussion. 73 Chapter 7 Concluding Remarks 7. Prospects for future research. 88 List of Publications.
90 iv Chapter 1 Introduction 1. Palm and palm sap Rapid depletions and increasing prices of fossil fuels to meet continuously increasing demands are of global concern [1]. Petroleum-based fuels lead to environmental pollution, which results in global warming, health hazards, and ecological imbalances [2]. The shift towards sustainable and environmentally friendly energy sources has generated significant interest in developing biofuel production from plant biomass [3].
Arable land areas for crops such as corn and sugarcane are limited. Agricultural expansion can result in deforestation, which is one of the main factors that is causing climate change [2]. Planting, maintaining, replanting, and growing such crops for ethanol production require various fossil energy inputs such as fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, machinery, irrigation, and electricity, which can cause social and environmental impacts [4, 5]. The use of available plants that do not require extensive maintenance and much fertilizer will be more appropriate for future biofuel production.
One such industrial plant is palm. It can grow abundantly with little care and can yield sugary sap as a feedstock for bioethanol production [6]. Palms are monocotyledonous angiosperms that belong to the Arecaceae family (also known as Palmae). They include six subfamilies, approximately 200 genera, and around 2,500–2,700 recognized species [7, 8].
Geographically, most are native to tropical and subtropical regions from 44° north to 44° south [7]. Sap from the palms is a sugar-rich exudate that can be obtained from wounded growing parts of a palm [9]. As reviewed by Francisco-Ortega and Zona [10], ~40 global palm species are used commonly to produce sap by local people. Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera), palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer), sugar palm (Arenga pinnata), nipa palm (Nypa fruticans), kitul palm (Caryota urens), oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), wild date palm (Phoenix sylvestris), and raffia palms (Raphia spp.) were reported as major sugar-yielding palms in Asia and Africa [11].
Limited harvesting of these palms occurs for domestic utilization as a fresh beverage; in animal feed; and/or for the production of brown sugar, alcoholic beverages, and vinegar [4, 10]. These saps contain a high amount of free sugars such as sucrose, glucose, and fructose that can be fermented to bioethanol much more easily than starchy or lignocellulosic materials [3]. 1 Thus, this chapter aims to review the properties of these palm saps for bioethanol production. Origin and transportation of sap inside palm 1.
Origin of sugary sap in palm Many palm species (e., and Metroxylon spp.) preserve their photosynthetic products from leaves as starch inside their stems [12]. During flowering and fruiting, starch is converted into sugars and enters the nutrient flow to be transported toward the growing parts of the plants [9]. The liquid that contains the nutrients and sugars constitutes the sap. Photosynthesis, starch hydrolysis, and sap flow require water that may be taken up from the environment through the roots of standing palms or from the tissues of felled palms [13].
In contrast, palm species such as C. fruticans contain little starch in their stems [11, 14]. To explain the sugar source in this case, Van Die and Tammes [9] proposed that soluble sugars from photosynthesis in the leaves are transported as the mobile phase of the sieve tube system throughout vegetative parts of the palms before they are used directly to form fruits or sap without starch accumulation. Ranasinghe et al.
[15] found that soluble sugars are available in leaf and trunk tissues in sap- and nut-producing coconut palms (C. Sugary sap appears to be the major reserve in this palm rather than starch. Sap transportation in palm Figures 1-1a and b compare the anatomy of a typical tree trunk and an oil palm trunk. Palms are monocotyledonous angiosperms and their anatomy differs from softwood and hardwood [16].
As shown in Fig. 1-1a, a typical tree has concentric vascular tissues: xylem includes sapwood and heartwood parts with pith, whereas phloem is only a narrow layer separated from xylem by a vascular cambium. In contrast, as shown in Figs. 1-1b and c, xylem and phloem in palms are not concentric but are dispersed inside numerous vascular bundles.
These vascular bundles are embedded in ground parenchyma, which is a storage tissue in which starch, a sap source, can be detected [17]. According to Berg [16], water and dissolved minerals flow in xylem, whereas phloem is used to transport aqueous solutions of sugars and other nutrients either from the leaves to the consumption and storage sites or from the storage to the growing sites. Consequently, sap flow, 2 which originates from leaves and/or storage sites, may be transported in the phloem to growing sites during flowering and fruiting. An early study by Molisch (cited in [13]) found many plugged xylem vessels in the inflorescence stalk.
This indicates that xylem vessels are unable to transport bleeding sap. Later reports proved that sap is released from phloem only in a sieve tube system [9]. The sap of deciduous trees such as the maple tree (Acer spp.) can be tapped in early spring and has a lower sugar content (3–5%) compared with palm sap (10–20%) [9, 11]. In contrast with palm, the sap in maple trees flows in the xylem.
According to Essiamah and Eschrich (cited in [18]), starch accumulates in xylem parenchyma cells by late October. During the winter and early spring, this reserve is converted into dissolved sucrose, which is believed to protect the trees from frost damage. Consequently, xylem sap in maple trees can be exuded by drilling holes into the trunk. Because of differences in structure and sap transportation, palm sap tapping is very different.
3 Table 1-1 Distribution and tapping characteristics of various palms. Tapping Age of first Years of Sap yield** Scientific name Common name Distribution Tapped part Tapping method Reference period* (day) tapping (yr) tapping (yr) (L/palm/day) Acrocomia Macaw palm Tropical regions of the Americas (e., Terminal bud Destructive 25 10-14 - 2 [19, 20] aculeata Coyol palm Mexico, Caribbean countries, Paraguay, Argentina) Arenga pinnata Sugar palm Humid areas of tropical South and Southeast Stalk Non-destructive 30-60 5-12 2-5 12-15 [21, 22] Asia (e., India, Sri Lanka, Guam, Papua (Max. 33) New Guinea, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam) Arenga wightii Wight's sago India Inflorescence Non-destructive > 20 - - 2 [7, 23] palm (spadix) Attalea butyracea Yagua palm Dry to slightly humid lowlands of American Crown meristem Destructive 20-30 15-25 - 1-3., Columbia) of felled palm Borassus African fan Tropical zone from West Africa through Palm heart Destructive 35-45 35 - 10 [25] aethiopum palm India and Southeast Asia to New Guinea (apical meristem) 4 and Australia Borassus akeassii - Sub-Saharan Africa (e., Senegal, Mali, Stem below Non-destructive Year–round - - 0.1 [27] Borassus Palmyra palm Tropical countries in Asia (e., Nepal, Sri Inflorescence Non-destructive 90-180 20-30 30 6-10 [11, 28, 29] flabellifer Lontar palm Lanka, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, (spadix) Phillipines, Vietnam) Caryota mitis Clustering India, Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar, Inflorescence Non-destructive - - - - [7, 8] fishtail palm Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam Caryota urens Kitul palm Humid areas of South Asia (e., India, Sri Stalk (peduncle) Non-destructive 60-90 10-20 3-5 45 [30, 31] Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines) Cocos nucifera Coconut palm Common to tropical lands Inflorescence Non-destructive 40-45 7 20 1., Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia) Table 1-1 Distribution and tapping characteristics of various palms. (continued) Corypha utan Buri palm Wide distribution in dry and open areas of Inflorescence Non-destructive 132 30-70 - Max., India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, 35] Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia) Elaeis guineensis Oil palm Tropical rain forest regions of Africa, Terminal bud Destructive 14-120 > 10 - 4 [13, 36] Southeast Asia, South and Central America Felled trunk Destructive - 25-30 - [37, 38] (e., Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Inflorescence Non-destructive - 6-10 10-15 5 [10, 11, 13, Madagascar, Angola, Malaysia, Indonesia, (spadix) 39] Colombia) Hyphaene Lala palm Arid parts of Africa (e., Madagascar, Terminal bud Destructive - - - - [10, 11, 40] coriacea South Africa) Hyphaene Real fan palm Subtropical, low-lying regions of South Terminal bud Destructive 35-60 - - 1 [41] petersiana Ivory palm Central Africa Hyphaene Doum palm Egypt and other dry regions Apical meristem Destructive 14-25 - - Up to 4 [11] thebaica 5 Jubaea chilensis Chilean palm South America (e., Chile) Apical meristem Destructive 42-56 5-15 - 8 [11, 42] of uprooted palm Apical meristem Non-destructive - - - - [42, 43] Mauritia flexuosa Buriti palm Near swamps and other wet areas in tropical Terminal bud Destructive - - - - [10, 11] South America (e., Trinidad, Colombia, Inflorescence Non-destructive - - - - [11] Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guinea, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia) Metroxylon sagu Sago palm Humid tropical lowlands, up to an altitude of Stalk Non-destructive > 75 9-12 - 2-10 [12, 44] 700 m (e., Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand) Nypa fruticans Nipa palm Soft mud and slow-moving tidal areas such Stalk (cut off Non-destructive 60-340 5 50 1., India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Nigeria) Phoenix Canary Island Canary Islands Apical meristem Non-destructive - - - - [10, 42] canariensis date palm Table 1-1 Distribution and tapping characteristics of various palms.
(continued) Tapping Age of first Years of Sap yield** Scientific name Common name Distribution Tapped part Tapping method Reference period* (day) tapping (yr) tapping (yr) (L/palm/day) Phoenix Date palm Arid and semiarid regions of western Asia Terminal bud Non-destructive 90-120 - 25 8-10 [2, 13, 48] dactylifera and North Africa (e.