Particle size influence on the composition of sugars in corncob hemicellulose hydrolysate for xylose fermentation by Meyerozyma caribbica

The xylitol production was performed with acidophilic Meyerozyma caribbica. The particle size of 0.02 +/- 0.01 to 0.1 +/- 0.05 mm was rich in glucose (12.0 +/- 0.5 g/L), whereas 0.5 +/- 0.25 to 2.0 +/- 0.5 mm had a high content of xylose (8.0 +/- 0.5 g/L). The xylitol production in the synthetic, non-detoxified and detoxified hydrolysate media was studied (50 +/- 0.5 g/L) using 10% v/v non - induced cells of M. caribbica for 120 h. At the end of fermentation with the specific growth rate of 0.056 +/- 0.01 (mu), xylitol yields of 45.00 +/- 1.00%, 10.00 +/- 1.00% and 54.00 +/- 1.00% were obtained. The detoxification of the hydrolysate prepared using an identified corncob particle size of 0.5 +/- 0.25 to 2.0 +/- 0.5 mm could be used as the prospective pretreatment process for ecofriendly and industrial scale production of xylitol with M. caribbica.

Automated summary

Xylitol production was achieved using acidophilic Meyerozyma caribbica, with different particle sizes resulting in varying glucose and xylose content. The study demonstrated that detoxified hydrolysate prepared using specific corncob particle size could be a prospective pretreatment process for ecofriendly and industrial scale xylitol production.