Pichia stipitis Adaptation and Xylose Fermentation in Hydrolysate Solution

Through adapting in steam-exploded corn stalk hydrolysate,Pichia stipitis was capable of fermenting xylose to ethanol in presence of inhibitory components.The xylose consumption rate and the ethanol yield were 94.1% and 82.1%,respectively.Fermentation started at initial xylose concentrations of 30,45 and 60 g/L.It was found that 45 g/L had a higher average ethanol productivity and a lower average biomass productivity.According to carbon balance and carbon metabolic effluence analysis,the carbon recovery was 89.7%,and 48.5% of carbon was converted to ethanol in the hydrolysate of 51.6 g/L xylose for 36 h.