title: Suitability of anaerobic digestion effluent as process water for corn fuel ethanol fermentation.
abstract: A corn fuel ethanol plant integrated with anaerobic digestion treatment of thin stillage increases the net energy balance. Furthermore, the anaerobic digestion effluent (ADE) can be reused as a potential substitute for process water in the ethanol fermentation. In this study, the suitability of ADE as process water for corn ethanol fermentation was investigated by analyzing the potential inhibitory components in the ADE. It was found that ammonium influenced the growth and metabolism of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Maximum ethanol production was obtained when the concentration of ammonium nitrogen was 200 mg/L, and ammonium could replace urea as the nitrogen source for S. cerevisiae under this concentration. In the ethanol fermentation with a higher concentration of ammonium, more glycerol was produced, thereby resulting in the decrease of ethanol production. In addition, components except ammonium in the ADE caused no inhibition to ethanol production. These results suggest that ADE could be reused as process water for corn ethanol fermentation without negative effect when ammonium concentration is well controlled.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China E-mail: maozg@jiangnan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China E-mail: maozg@jiangnan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jian-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China E-mail: maozg@jiangnan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China E-mail: maozg@jiangnan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhong-Gui
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Mao
mesh_terms: D064751:Ammonium Compounds; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis*; D019149:Bioreactors; D000431:Ethanol / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005285:Fermentation; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D064751:Ammonium Compounds; D056804:Biofuels; D000431:Ethanol