Characterization of Adulterated Milk by Two-Dimensional Infrared Correlation Spectroscopy

A new approach for discrimination of adulterated milk is reported using two-dimensional infrared (IR) correlation spectroscopy by multiway principal component analysis (MPCA) and least squares support vector machines (LS–SVM). First, the synchronous two-dimensional spectra of pure and adulterated milk were calculated. Then, MPCA was used to reduce the dimensions, extract features of two-dimensional correlation data set, and distinguish adulterated milk and pure milk. Finally, a LS-SVM model was developed using the scores of the first thirteen principal components from synchronous two-dimensional correlation spectra computed by MPCA as the input variables. The ratios of correct classification were 100% and 96.3% for calibration set and prediction set, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) of 0.991 for prediction set was obtained by LS–SVM. The results indicate that two-dimensional correlation infrared spectra combined with MPCA–LS–SVM may be a rapid screening technique for discrimination of adulterated milk with good accuracy.     

Multivariate monitoring of fermentation processes with non-linear modelling methods

Multiway principal components analysis (MPCA) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) are widely used in exploratory data analysis and multivariate statistical process control (MSPC). These models are linear in nature, thus, limited when non-linear relations are present in the data. Principal component analysis (PCA) can be extended to non-linear principal components analysis using autoassociative neural networks. In this paper, the network’s bottleneck layer outputs (non-linear components) were made orthogonal. A method to estimate confidence limits based on a kernel probability density function was proposed since these limits do not assume that the non-linear scores are normally distributed. A measure for the non-linear scores (D_NL) was presented here to monitor on-line the process replacing the well known Hotelling’s T² statistic. One hundred and two industrial fermentation runs were used to evaluate the performance of a non-linear technique for multivariate process statistical monitoring. Three process runs with faults were used to compare the error detection performance using a statistic for the non-linear scores and the residuals statistic (SPE).     

Analysis of petroleum compositional similarity using multiway principal components analysis (MPCA) with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatographic data

The accurate establishment of oil similarity is a longstanding problem in petroleum geochemistry and a necessary component for resolving the architecture of an oil reservoir. Past limitations have included the excessive reliance on a relatively small number of biomarkers to characterize such complex fluids as crude oils. Here we use multiway principal components analysis (MPCA) on large numbers of specific chemical components resolved with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC×GC-FID) to determine the molecular relatedness of eight different maltene fractions of crude oils. MPCA works such that every compound eluting within the same first and second dimension retention time is quantitatively compared with what elutes at that same retention times within the other maltene fractions. Each maltene fraction and corresponding MPCA analysis contains upwards of 3500 quantified components. Reservoir analysis included crude oil sample pairs from around the world that were collected sequentially at depth within a single well, collected from multiple depths in the same well, and from different depths and different wells but thought to be intersected by the same permeable strata. Furthermore, three different regions of each GC×GC-FID chromatograms were analysed to evaluate the effectiveness of MPCA to resolve compositional changes related to the source of the oil generating sediments and its exposure to biological and/or physical weathering processes. Compositional and instrumental artefacts introduced during sampling and processing were also quantitatively evaluated. We demonstrate that MPCA can resolve multi-molecular differences between oil samples as well as provide insight into the overall molecular relatedness between various crude oils.     

Early phase process scale-up challenges for fungal and filamentous bacterial cultures

Culture pelleting and morphology has a strong influence on process productivity and success for fungal and filamentous bacterial cultures. This impact is particularly evident with early phase secondary metabolite processes with limited process definition. A compilation of factors affecting filamentous or pelleting morphology described in the literature indicates potential leads for developing process-specific control methodologies. An evaluation of the factors mediating citric acid production is one example of an industrially important application of these techniques. For five model fungal and filamentous bacterial processes in an industrial fermentation pilot plant, process development strategies were developed and effectively implemented with the goal of achieving reasonable fermentation titers early in the process development cycle. Examples of approaches included the use of additives to minimize pelleting in inoculum shake flasks, the use of large-volume frozen bagged inoculum obtained from agitated seed fermentors, and variations in production medium composition and fermentor operating conditions. Results were evaluated with respect to productivity of desired secondary metabolites as well as process scalability. On-line measurements were utilized to indirectly evaluate the cultivation impact of changes in medium and process development. Key laboratory to pilot plant scale-up issues also were identified and often addressed in subsequent cultivations.     

Quantitative analysis of biodiesel in blends of biodiesel and conventional diesel by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and multivariate curve resolution

In this paper, a method to determine the composition of blends of biodiesel with mineral diesel (BXX) by multivariate curve resolution with Alternating Least Squares (MRC-ALS) combined to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with Flame Ionization Detection (GC × GC-FID) is presented. Chromatographic profiles of BXX blends produced with biodiesels from different sources were used as input data. An initial evaluation carried out after multiway principal component analysis (MPCA) was used to reveal regions of the chromatograms were the signal was likely to be dependent on the concentration of biodiesel, regardless its vegetable source. After this preliminary step MCR-ALS modeling was carried out only using relevant parts of the chromatograms. The resulting procedure was able to predict accurately the concentration of biodiesel in the BXX samples regardless of its origin.     

Repeated solid-phase fermentation and extraction for enzyme production

Solid-phase fermentation has been found to have a much higher productivity than the popular liquid submerged fermentation in producing cellulase enzymes. The highest reported productivity in the literature for cellulases by Trichoderma cultures in submerged fermentation is 158 filter paper units (FPU)/(h·L) of fermenting liquid. From preliminary experiments of solid-phase fermentation in 1000-m L flasks, a productivity of 234 FPU of cellulases/(h·L) of solid-bed volume was obtained. When two novel techniques—pressure pulsation and repeated extraction—were applied, a productivity of 806 FPU/(h·L) was achieved. The same techniques also greatly enhanced the productivity of other enzymes by fungal cultures in solid-phase fermentation.     

Butanol Production from Cane Molasses by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clostridium saccharobutylicum</Emphasis> DSM 13864: Batch and Semicontinuous Fermentation

Clostridium acetobutylicum strains used in most Chinese ABE (acetone–butanol–ethanol) plants favorably ferment starchy materials like corn, cassava, etc., rather than sugar materials. This is one major problem of ABE industry in China and significantly limits the exploitation of cheap waste sugar materials. In this work, cane molasses were utilized as substrate in ABE production by Clostridium saccharobutylicum DSM 13864. Under optimum conditions, total solvent of 19.80 g/L (13.40 g/L butanol) was reached after 72 h of fermentation in an Erlenmeyer flask. In a 5-L bioreactor, total solvent of 17.88 g/L was attained after 36 h of fermentation, and the productivity and yield were 0.50 g/L/h and 0.33 g ABE/g sugar consumption, respectively. To further enhance the productivity, a two-stage semicontinuous fermentation process was steadily operated for over 8 days (205 h, 26 cycles) with average productivity (stage II) of 1.05 g/L/h and cell concentration (stage I) of 7.43 OD₆₆₀, respectively. The average batch fermentation time (stage I and II) was reduced to 21−25 h with average solvent of 15.27 g/L. This study provides valuable process data for the development of industrial ABE fermentation process using cane molasses as substrate.     

Optimized Fed-Batch Fermentation of Scheffersomyces stipitis for Efficient Production of Ethanol from Hexoses and Pentoses

Scheffersomyces stipitis was cultivated in an optimized, controlled fed-batch fermentation for production of ethanol from glucose–xylose mixture. Effect of feed medium composition was investigated on sugar utilization and ethanol production. Studying influence of specific cell growth rate on ethanol fermentation performance showed the carbon flow towards ethanol synthesis decreased with increasing cell growth rate. The optimum specific growth rate to achieve efficient ethanol production performance from a glucose-xylose mixture existed at 0.1 h^?1. With these optimized feed medium and cell growth rate, a kinetic model has been utilized to avoid overflow metabolism as well as to ensure a balanced feeding of nutrient substrate in fed-batch system. Fed-batch culture with feeding profile designed based on the model resulted in high titer, yield, and productivity of ethanol compared with batch cultures. The maximal ethanol concentration was 40.7 g/L. The yield and productivity of ethanol production in the optimized fed-batch culture was 1.3 and 2 times higher than those in batch culture. Thus, higher efficiency ethanol production was achieved in this study through fed-batch process optimization. This strategy may contribute to an improvement of ethanol fermentation from lignocellulosic biomass by S. stipitis on the industrial scale.     

Alcoholic Fermentation with Flocculant Saccharomyces cerevisiae in Fed-Batch Process

Studies have been conducted on selecting yeast strains for use in fermentation for ethanol production to improve the performance of industrial plants and decrease production costs. In this paper, we study alcoholic fermentation in a fed-batch process using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain with flocculant characteristics. Central composite design (CCD) was used to determine the optimal combination of the variables involved, with the sucrose concentration of 170 g/L, a cellular concentration in the inoculum of 40 % (v/v), and a filling time of 6 h, which resulted in a 92.20 % yield relative to the theoretical maximum yield, a productivity of 6.01 g/L h and a residual sucrose concentration of 44.33 g/L. With some changes in the process such as recirculation of medium during the fermentation process and increase in cellular concentration in the inoculum after use of the CCD was possible to reduce the residual sucrose concentration to 2.8 g/L in 9 h of fermentation and increase yield and productivity for 92.75 % and 9.26 g/L h, respectively. A model was developed to describe the inhibition of alcoholic fermentation kinetics by the substrate and the product. The maximum specific growth rate was 0.103 h^?1, with K _I and K _s values of 109.86 and 30.24 g/L, respectively. The experimental results from the fed-batch reactor show a good fit with the proposed model, resulting in a maximum growth rate of 0.080 h^?1.     

Biomass Composition, Lipid Characterization, and Metabolic Profile Analysis of the Fed-Batch Fermentation Process of Two Different Docosahexanoic Acid Producing Schizochytrium sp. Strains

Growth and fermentation characteristics, biomass composition, lipid characterization and metabolic profiling analysis of two different Schizochytrium sp. strains, the original strain and the industrial adaptive strain, were investigated in the fed-batch fermentation process. The final cell biomass, total lipids content, docosahexanoic acid (DHA) content and DHA productivity of the adaptive strain were much higher than those of the original strain. The metabolic distinctions which extensively existed between these two strains were revealed by the score plot of principal component analysis. In addition, potential biomarkers responsible for discriminating different strains were identified as myo-inositol, histidine, alanine, asparagine, cysteine, and oxalic acid. These findings provided new insights into the industrial strain screening and further improvement of DHA production by Schizochytrium sp.     

Cellulosic fuel ethanol

Iogen (Canada) is a major manufacturer of industrial cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes for the textile, pulp and paper, and poultry feed industries. Iogen has recently constructed a 40 t/d biomass-to-ethanol demonstration plant adjacent to its enzyme production facility. The integration of enzyme and ethanol plants results in significant reduction in production costs and offers an alternative use for the sugars generated during biomass conversion. Iogen has partnered with the University of Toronto to test the fermentation performance characteristics of metabolically engineered Zymomonas mobilis created at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This study focused on strain AX101, a xylose- and arabinose-fermenting stable genomic integrant that lacks the selection marker gene for antibiotic resistance. The “Iogen Process” for biomass depolymerization consists of a dilute-sulpfuric acid-catalyzed steam explosion, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. This work examined two process design options for fermentation, first, continuous cofermentation of C₅ and C₆ sugars by Zm AX101, and second, separate continuous fermentations of prehydrolysate by Zm AX101 and cellulose hydrolysate by either wildtype Z. mobilis ZM4 or an industrial yeast commonly used in the production of fuel ethanol from corn. Iogen uses a proprietary process for conditioning the prehydrolysate to reduce the level of inhibitory acetic acid to at least 2.5 g/L. The pH was controlled at 5.5 and 5.0 for Zymomonas and yeast fermentations, respectively. Neither 2.5 g/L of acetic acid nor the presence of pentose sugars (C₆:C₅ = 2:1) appreciably affected the high-performance glucose fermentation of wild-type Z. mobilis ZM4. By contrast, 2.5 g/L of acetic acid significantly reduced the rate of pentose fermentation by strain AX101. For single-stage continuous fermentation of pure sugar synthetic cellulose hydrolysate (60 g/L of glucose), wild-type Zymomonas exhibited a four-fold higher volumetric productivity compared with industrial yeast. Low levels of acetic acid stimulated yeast ethanol productivity. The glucose-to-ethanol conversion efficiency for Zm and yeast was 96 and 84%, respectively.     

Fault detection and classification for a two‐stage batch process

Multiway principal component analysis (MPCA) has been extensively applied to batch process monitoring. In the case of monitoring a two‐stage batch process, the inter‐stage variation is neglected if MPCA models for each individual stage are used. On the other hand, if two stages of reference data are combined into a large dataset that MPCA is applied to, the dimensions of the unfolded matrix will increase dramatically. In addition, when an abnormal event is detected, it is difficult to identify which stage's operation induced this alarm. In this paper, partial least squares (PLS) is applied to monitor the inter‐stage relation of a two‐stage batch process. In post‐analysis of abnormalities, PLS can clarify whether root causes are from previous stage operations or due to the changes of the inter‐stage correlations. This approach was successfully applied to a semiconductor manufacturing process. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating the feasibility of mid infrared spectroscopy for monitoring an industrial de-racemization biotransformation process

Biotransformation processes have become industrially important in recent years as routes to the manufacture of high value chemical intermediates. However, measurements of key process features and analyte concentrations during these processes are still typically carried out using off-line analysis methods. Vibrational spectroscopic techniques have been extensively utilised for the monitoring and control of a variety of industrial processes. Despite the techniques success with a range of challenging biological matrices, including fermentation and cell culture systems, application of this approach to biotransformation systems has been limited. In the present study the potential of mid infrared spectroscopy to monitor an industrially relevant de-racemization biotransformation process has been investigated. This process presents a number of difficulties due to the optically challenging sample media, close structural similarities and stoichiometric relationship between the key analytes of interest. A PLS model based on the mid infrared spectra obtained during three replicates of the biotransformation process was constructed. In order to ensure that co-linearity within the system had been adequately addressed the spectral contributors to the model were examined. External validation of the constructed model was achieved by challenging the model with two previously unseen replicates of the process. The constructed model was able to predict the concentrations of two key analytes in various samples from these unseen replicates without the requirement for any time consuming sample pre-treatment stages, thus demonstrating the feasibility of near real-time mid infrared monitoring of such an industrial de-racemization biotransformation process.     

Separate and simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of wheat hemicellulose with recombinant xylose utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Fermentations with three different xylose-utilizing recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains (F12, CR4, and CB4) were performed using two different wheat hemicellulose substrates, unfermented starch free fibers, and an industrial ethanol fermentation residue, vinasse. With CR4 and F12, the maximum ethanol concentrations obtained were 4.3 and 4 g/L, respectively, but F12 converted xylose 15% faster than CR4 during the first 24 h. The comparison of separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) with F12 showed that the highest, maximum ethanol concentrations were obtained with SSF. In general, the volumetric ethanol productivity was initially, highest in the SHF, but the overall volumetric ethanol productivity ended up being maximal in the SSF, at 0.013 and 0.010 g/Lh, with starch free fibers and vinasse, respectively.     

Conversion of sugarcane bagasse to carboxylic acids using a mixed culture of mesophilic microorganisms

Using the MixAlco process, biomass can be converted into carboxylic acids, which can be chemically converted into mixed alcohol fuels. This study focused on the use of countercurrent fermentation to anaerobically convert sugarcane bagasse and chicken manure to mixed carboxylic acids using a mixed culture of mesophilic microorganisms from terrestrial and marine sources. Bagasse was pretreated with lime to increase digestibility. The continuum particle distribution model (CPDM) simulated continuous fermentors based on data collected from batch experiments. This model saves considerable time in determining optimum operating conditions. For an 80% bagasse/20% chicken manure fermentation with terrestrial inoculum at a volatile solids loading rate (VSLR) of 7.36 g/(L of liquid·d) and a liquid residence time (LRT) of 8.88 d, total carboxylic acid productivity, total acid selectivity, and yield were 2.49 g/(L of liquid·d), 0.581 g of total acid/g of VS digested, and 0.338 g of total acid/g of VS fed, respectively, at a concentration of 18.7 g of total acid/L. At the same VSLR and LRT, fermentation with marine inoculum gave higher total acid productivity, total acid selectivity, and yield than fermentation with terrestrial inoculum. For an 80% bagasse/20% chicken manure fermentation with marine inoculum at a VSLR of 3.83 g/(L of liquid·d) and an LRT of 12.1 d, total carboxylic acid productivity, total acid selectivity, and yield were 1.38 g/(L of liquid·d), 0.667 g of total acid/g of VS digested, and 0.359 g of total acid/g of VS fed, respectively, at a concentration of 16.2 g of total acid/L.     

Kinetics of batch production of single-cell protein from cheese whey

A kinetic model for single-cell protein batch fermentation was developed using the numerical simultaneous integration approach of the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The model takes into account the effect of substrate inhibtion, maintenance energy, and cell death on the cell growth and substrate utilization during the fermentation process. The theoretical results obtained from the model compared well with the experimental data. The model was used to study the effect of the initial substrate concentration on the lag period, fermentation time, specific growth rate, population size, and cell productivity of batch fermentation. Increasing the initial substrate concentration increased the lag period and fermentation time and decreased the specific growth rate and cell yield. The growth limiting substrate concentration was 2.9 g/L, whereas the growth inhibiting substrate concentration was 69.0 g/L. Increasing the initial substrate concentration above 150 g/L significantly decreased the yeast population size.     

Evaluation of optimization techniques for an extractive alcoholic fermentation process

The mathematical optimization of a continuous alcoholic fermentation process combined with a flash column under vacuum was studied. The objective was to maximize % yield and productivity in the fermentor. The results using surface response analysis combined with modeling and simulation were compared withy those obtained when the problem was written as a nonlinear programming problem and was solved with a successive quadratic programming (SQP) technique. Two process models were evaluated when the process was optimized using the SQP technique. The first one is a deterministic model, whose kinetic parameters were experimentally determined as functions of the temperature, and the second is a statistical model obtained using the factorial design technique combined with simulation. Although the best result was the one obtained using the rigorous model, the values for productivity and % yield obtained using the simplified model are acceptable, and these models can be used when the development of a rigorous model is excessively difficult, slow, or expensive.     

Comparative Metabolomic Study of Penicillium chrysogenum During Pilot and Industrial Penicillin Fermentations

Comparative metabolomics was carried out to investigate the metabolic differences of Penicillium chrysogenum in the pilot and industrial fermentations that resulted from the scale-up. By principal component analysis, the early stages of two fermentation processes were clearly distinguished, whereas the middle and final stages were clustered together. It indicated that the different metabolisms of cells in the pilot and industrial fermentations mainly existed during the early stage. Furthermore, the levels of polyamines, polyols, glycolysis, and tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, which changed more dramatically during the pilot process, were all higher in the pilot than in the industrial fermentation during the early stage. This indicated that the fermentation conditions of the early stage should be the focus of process management which is aimed at increasing penicillin production. Additionally, the comparative accumulations of the precursors of penicillin (valine, cysteine, and lysine) revealed that penicillin biosynthesis in the industrial process was more affected during the middle stage of fermentation. These findings provide new insights to further regulate the industrial process and improve the production of penicillin. More generally, this study attempts to address the scarcity of studies that contrast the metabolic outcomes between commercial- and pilot-scale conditions.     

Application of factorial design to the study of xylitol production from eucalyptus hemicellulosic hydrolysate

This study deals with the bioconversion of xylose into xylitol by Candida guilliermondii FTI 20037 using eucalyptus hemicellulosic hydrolysate obtained by acid hydrolysis. The influence of various parameters (ammonium sulfate, rice bran, pH, and xylose concentration) on the production of xylitol was evaluated. The experiments were based on multivariate statistical concepts, with the application of factorial design techniques to identify the most important variables in the process. The levels of these variables were quantified by the response surface methodology, which permitted the establishment of a significant mathematical model with a coefficient determination of R ²=0.92. The best results (xylitol=10.0 g/L, yield factor=0.2 g/g, and productivity=0.1 g/[L·h]) were attained with hydrolysate containing ammonium sulfate (1.1 g/L), rice bran (5.0 g/L), and xylose (initial concentration of 60.0 g/L), after 72 h of fermentation. The pH of fermentation was adjusted to 8.0 and the inoculum level utilized was 3 g/L.