Production of acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) in direct fermentation of cassava by Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4.

In this work, acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation characteristics of cassava starch and cassava chips when using Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 was presented. The obtained results in batch mode using a 1-L fermenter showed that C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 was a hyperamylolytic strain and capable of producing solvents efficiently from cassava starch and cassava chips, which was comparable to when glucose was used. Batch fermentation of cassava starch and cassava chips resulted in 21.0 and 19.4 g/L of total solvent as compared with 24.2 g/L of total solvent when using glucose. Solvent productivity in fermentation of cassava starch was from 42% to 63% higher than that obtained in fermentation using corn and sago starches in the same condition. In fermentation of cassava starch and cassava chips, maximum butanol concentration was 16.9 and 15.5 g/L, respectively. Solvent yield and butanol yield (based on potential glucose) was 0.33 and 0.41, respectively, for fermentation of cassava starch and 0.30 and 0.38, respectively for fermentation using cassava chips.