Simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation of paper sludge to ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae RWB222. Part II: investigation of discrepancies between predicted and observed performance at high solids concentration.

The simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF) kinetic model described in the companion paper can predict batch and fed batch fermentations well at solids concentrations up to 62.4 g/L cellulose paper sludge but not in batch fermentation at 82.0 g/L cellulose paper sludge. Four hypotheses for the discrepancy between observation and model prediction at high solids concentration were examined: ethanol inhibition, enzyme deactivation, inhibition by non-metabolizable compounds present in paper sludge, and mass transfer limitation. The results show that mass transfer limitation was responsible for the discrepancy between model and experimental data. The model can predict the value of high paper sludge SSCF in the fermentation period with no mass transfer limitation. The model predicted that maximum ethanol production of fed-batch fermentation was achieved when it was run as close to batch mode as possible with the initial solids loading below the mass transfer limitation threshold. A method for measuring final enzyme activity at the end of fermentation was also developed in this study.