Bioabatement to Remove Inhibitors from Biomass-Derived Sugar Hydrolysates

Bioabatement is a potential method to remove inhibitory compounds from lignocellulose hydrolysates that could be incorporated into a scheme for fer-mentation of ethanol from cellulose. Coniochaeta ligniaria NRRL30616, an Ascomycete that metabolizes furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, is a unique strain that may be useful for detoxifying biomass sugars. NRRL30616 and 23 related fungal strains were screened for the ability to metabolize furans and grow in dilute-acid hydrolysate of corn stover. NRRL30616 was the best strain for removal of inhibitors from hydrolysate, and abatement of hydrolysate by inoculation with the strain allowed subsequent yeast fermen-tation of cellulose to ethanol. Index Entries: Biomass; lignocellulose; inhibitor abatement; bioremediation; fermentation; detoxification; ethanol