Kinetics of growth and ethanol formation from a mix of glucose/xylose substrate by Kluyveromyces marxianus UFV-3

The fermentation of both glucose and xylose is important to maximize ethanol yield from renewable biomass feedstocks. In this article, we analyze growth, sugar consumption, and ethanol formation by the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus UFV-3 using various glucose and xylose concentrations and also under conditions of reduced respiratory activity. In almost all the conditions analyzed, glucose repressed xylose assimilation and xylose consumption began after glucose had been exhausted. A remarkable difference was observed when mixtures of 5 g L−1 glucose/20 g L−1 xylose and 20 g L−1 glucose/20 g L−1 xylose were used. In the former, the xylose consumption began immediately after the glucose depletion. Indeed, there was no striking diauxic phase, as observed in the latter condition, in which there was an interval of 30 h between glucose depletion and the beginning of xylose consumption. Ethanol production was always higher in a mixture of glucose and xylose than in glucose alone. The highest ethanol concentration (8.65 g L−1) and cell mass concentration (4.42 g L−1) were achieved after 8 and 74 h, respectively, in a mixture of 20 g L−1 glucose/20 g L−1 xylose. When inhibitors of respiration were added to the medium, glucose repression of xylose consumption was alleviated completely and K. marxianus was able to consume xylose and glucose simultaneously.