Xylitol production from D-xylose and horticultural waste hemicellulosic hydrolysate by a new isolate of Candida athensensis SB18.

This paper describes the production of xylitol from d-xylose and horticultural waste hemicellulosic hydrolysate by a new strain of Candida athensensis SB18. Strain SB18 completely consumed 250 and 300 g L(-1) D-xylose and successful converted it to xylitol in the respective yield of 0.83 and 0.87 g g(-1), resulting in 207.8 and 256.5 g L(-1) of xylitol, respectively. The respective volumetric productivity were 1.15 and 0.97 g L(-1) h(-1). Approximately 100.1 g L(-1) of xylitol was obtained from the bioconversion of detoxified horticultural waste hemicellulosic hydrolysate using strain SB18. The yield and productivity were 0.81 g g(-1) xylose and 0.98 g L(-1) h(-1), respectively. Strain C. athensensis SB18 was able to completely utilize glucose, mannose, xylose and partially arabinose. This work demonstrates that stain C. athensensis SB18 is a promising strain for high-titer and high-yield xylitol production and it has great potential in bioconversion of hemicellulosic hydrolysate.