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Abstract
Microbial biotechnology and biotransformations promise to diversify the scope of the biorefinery approach for the production of high-value products and biofuels from industrial, rural and municipal waste feedstocks. In addition to bio-based chemicals and metabolites, microbial biomass itself constitutes an obvious but overlooked by-product of existing biofermentation systems which warrants fuller attention. The probiotic yeast Saccharomyces boulardii is used to treat gastrointestinal disorders and marketed as a human health supplement. Despite its relatedness to S. cerevisiae that is employed widely in biotechnology, food and biofuel industries, the alternative applications of S. boulardii are not well studied. Using a biorefinery approach, we compared the bioethanol and biomass yields attainable from agriculturally-sourced grass juice using probiotic S. boulardii (strain MYA-769) and a commercial S. cerevisiae brewing strain (Turbo yeast). Maximum product yields for MYA-769 (39.18 [±2.42] mg ethanol mL−1 and 4.96 [±0.15] g dry weight L−1) compared closely to those of Turbo (37.43 [±1.99] mg mL−1 and 4.78 [±0.10] g L−1, respectively). Co-production, marketing and/or on-site utilisation of probiotic yeast biomass as a direct-fed microbial to improve livestock health represents a novel and viable prospect for rural biorefineries. Given emergent evidence to suggest that dietary yeast supplementations might also mitigate ruminant enteric methane emissions, the administration of probiotic yeast biomass could also offer an economically feasible way of reducing atmospheric CH4.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 64 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | AMB Express |
Volume | 4 |
Early online date | 01 Sept 2014 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Keywords
- Bioethanol
- Saccharomyces boulardii
- Probiotic
- Cholesterol
- Biorefinery
- Biomass
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Dive into the research topics of 'Co-production of bioethanol and probiotic yeast biomass from agricultural feedstock: Application of the rural biorefinery concept'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Optimising energy output and biorefining
Donnison, I. (PI), Gallagher, J. (PI), Shah, I. P. (PI) & Winters, A. (PI)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
01 Apr 2012 → 31 Mar 2017
Project: Externally funded research