title: Growing Lemna minor in agricultural wastewater and converting the duckweed biomass to ethanol.
abstract: Duckweed (Lemna minor) was grown in swine lagoon wastewater and Schenk & Hildebrandt medium with a growth rate of 3.5 and 14.1 g m(-2)day(-1) (dry basis), respectively detected. The rapid accumulation of starch in duckweed biomass (10-36%, w/w) was triggered by nutrient starvation or growing in dark with addition of glucose. The harvested duckweed biomass (from culture in wastewater) contained 20.3% (w/w) total glucan, 32.3% (w/w) proteins, trace hemicellulose and undetectable lignin. Without prior thermal-chemical pretreatment, up to 96.2% (w/w) of glucose could be enzymatically released from both the cellulose and starch fractions of duckweed biomass. The enzymatic hydrolysates could be efficiently fermented by two yeast strains (self-flocculating yeast SPSC01 and conventional yeast ATCC 24859) with a high ethanol yield of 0.485 g g(-1) (glucose).
authors.affiliation: Arkansas Biosciences Institute, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR 72401, USA.
authors.forename: Xumeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Ningning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gregory C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Jianfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D029064:Araceae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D018533:Biomass; D003470:Culture Media; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000378:metabolism*; D005285:Fermentation; D006868:Hydrolysis; D062065:Wastewater
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D000431:Ethanol; D062065:Wastewater