Hexoses fermentation

Figure 1.1 Main pathway of hexose fermentation in lactic acid bacteria (after Kandler, 1983).

Both the fermentation of hexose sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide and the oxidation of ethanol to acetic acid are exothermic (heat yielding) processes (see Sugar). The first reaction is expressed as foUows ... 

Candida utilis is grown on sulfite waste Hquor in Western Europe and North America, on sugar cane molasses in Cuba and Taiwan and on ceUulose acid hydrolysates in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. C. ///i/if utilizes hexoses, pentoses, and many organic acids. Sulfite Hquor from hardwoods contains 2—3% fermentable sugars of which 20% are hexoses and 80% pentoses in softwood Hquors the proportions are reversed. The SO2 must be stripped out to allow yeast growth, which is carried out in large, highly-aerated fermentors. Eor continuous fermentations, carried out at pH 4 and 30°C, the dilution rate is 0.27—0.30 (34). 

Hexose diphosphate was found by Harden and Young69 in cell-free alcoholic-fermentation liquors. In 1930, it was observed that addition of fluoride to fermenting-yeast extracts leads to an accumulation of 0-phospho-D-glyceronic acid,60 which is also a metabolite of muscle extracts.61 Attention was turned, therefore, to the pathway from hexose diphosphate to 0-phos-pho-D-glyceronic acid. In 1932, Fischer and Baer62 described the synthesis of D-glycerose 3-phosphate, and, in 1933, Smythe and Gerischer63 noted... 

As bacterial transglucosidase is instrumental in the transfer of a D-glucose residue from one acceptor to another, so does yeast hexokinase 3 catalyze a transphosphorylation. The highly specific donator of a labile phosphate group is adenosine triphosphate (XX), the fermentable hexoses D-glucose, D-mannose and D-fructose functioning as acceptors. Hexokinase catalyzes the reaction... 

Hexokinase is of great biological interest since it would appear that not only in yeast cells but in most, if not all, plant and animal cells phosphorylation at C6 of the common hexoses D-glucose, D-fructose and D-mannose initiates sugar utilization. Since on solution in water the crystalline hexoses quickly undergo mutarotation, resulting in an equilibrium mixture of various tautomeric modifications, the fermentability... 

Fischer then examined the lactose yeast in the same manner as he did the Frohberg yeast and found it to contain both an invertin-like enzyme and a lactose-cleaving enzyme, which he termed lactase. From these results he concluded that the first step in the fermentation of lactose, as for the fermentation of sucrose and maltose, is the hydrolysis of the disaccharide to mono-sacharide. From this observation, he drew the landmark conclusion that he considered it most unlikely that any polysaccharide (the term included di-saccharides) can be fermented without first being hydrolyzed to hexose (31). 

Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) one-stage enzymatic hydrolysis, but the fermentation of pentoses and hexoses takes place in separate process steps. 

Simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF) one-stage enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose and fermentation of pentoses and hexoses all in one process step. The upstream hydrolysis of the hemicellulose takes place in a separate process step. 

The compactness and complexity of (ligno)cellulose makes it much more difficult to attack by enzymes with respect to starch. Therefore, the cost of bioethanol production is higher [23], To be cost competitive with grain-derived ethanol, the enzymes used for biomass hydrolysis must become more efficient and far less expensive. In addition, the presence of non-glucose sugars in the feedstock complicates the fermentation process, because conversion of pentose sugars into ethanol is less efficient than conversion of the hexose sugars. 

Historically, techniques such as the formation of osazones and the demonstration of fermentation have contributed significantly to the separation and identification of carbohydrates. Observation of the characteristic crystalline structure and melting point of the osazone derivative, prepared by reaction of the monosaccharide with phenylhydrazine, was used in identification. This method is not completely specific, however, because the reaction involves both carbon atoms 1 and 2 with the result that the three hexoses, glucose, fructose and mannose (Figure 9.19), will yield identical osazones owing to their common enediol form. 

Hydrogen production from the bacterial fermentation of sugars has been examined in a variety of reactor systems. Hexose concentration has a greater effect on Hj yields than the HRT. Flocculation also was an important factor in the performance of the reactor (Van Ginkel and Logan, 2005). 

It had been known from at least the time of Pasteur that the presence of sodium or potassium phosphate aided the progress of a yeast fermentation. Later intensive study showed that a complex group of enzymes (phosphatases and phosphorylases) was responsible for the phosphorylation, dephosphorylation and interconversion of D-glucose 6-phosphate, D-fructose 6-phosphate, D-fructose 1,6-diphosphate and similar substances in various types of cells and muscle tissue. Detailed reviews of the field are available. - A further advance was made in 1936, when Cori and Cori noted that in certain circumstances well-washed frog muscle immersed in a sodium phosphate buffer utilized the inorganic phosphate to produce a new hexose phosphate (the Cori ester). This compound was later shown to be a-D-glucopyranose-l-phosphate and yielded crystalline dipotassium and brucine salts. The Cori ester arose because... 

It remains undecided whether the formation of small amounts of glycerol reported by Oppenheimer in the case of zymase extract is due to a ph3rtochemical reduction of trioses. If hexoses are fermented in the presence of trioses with ordinary fresh yeasts which do not attack dihy-droxyacetone and glyceraldehyde, the added trioses are recovered practically unaltered after the disappearance of the hexoses. 

The long-known stimulating effect of mono- and polynitro com-pounds on the onset of fermentation in yeast maceration juice has been reinvestigated by Vandendriessche. The induction time is shortened significantly by 2,4- or 2,5-dinitrophenol, while 2,6-dinitro-phenol did not show such an effect. The influence is evident when using as substrates the fermentable hexoses and D-fructose-6-phosphate, but not hexose diphosphate. According to MarkoviCev a stimulation of the oxidation processes can be proved thereby. It is probable that these effects are related to the known phytochemical reduction of nitro compounds (see pp. 98 and 99). 

The decomposition of the sugars in the hydrolyzate, when subjected to continued action of acid, was recognized by early investigators. It was found also that pentoses decomposed more rapidly than hexoses. In the work by Kressman this decomposition was studied and its control was employed as a means of increasing the amount of fermentable sugar in the hydrolyzate. In this work it was found that the maximum... 

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