Development of an economically competitive Trichoderma-based platform for enzyme production: Bioprocess optimization, pilot plant scale-up, techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment.

Despite decades of research and industrial applications of Trichoderma reesei, the development of industrially relevant strains for enzyme production including a low-cost and scalable bioprocess remains elusive. Herein, bioprocess optimization, pilot plant scale-up, techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment for enzyme production by an engineered T. reesei strain are reported. The developed bioprocess increased in âˆ¼ 2-fold protein productivity (0.39 g.L-1.h-1) and 1.6-fold FPase activity (196 FPU.L-1.h-1), reducing the fermentation in 4 days. Cultivation in a 65-L pilot plant bioreactor resulted in 54 g.L-1 protein in 7 days, highlighting the robustness and scalability of this bioprocess. Techno-economic analysis indicates an enzyme cost of âˆ¼ 3.2 USD.kg-1, which is below to the target proposed (4.24 USD.kg-1) in the NREL/TP-5100-47764 report, while life-cycle assessment shows a carbon footprint reduction of approximately 50% compared to a typical commercial enzyme. This study provides the fundamental knowledge for the design of economically competitive Trichoderma technologies for industrial use.

Crude glycerin combined with sugar cane silage in lamb diets.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the level of crude glycerin (CG) on in vitro fermentation kinetics (0, 20, 40, 60, and 80 g/kg DM of sugar cane silage), on in vitro neutral detergent fiber (NDF) degradation (0, 30, 60, and 90 g/kg DM of sugar cane silage), and intake and digestibility of nutrients and nitrogen balance (0, 20, 55, 82, and 108 g/kg DM of sugar cane silage) in lambs. The in vitro trials were conducted in a completely randomized design with three repetitions. The in vivo trial was conducted in a Latin square design with five repetitions (5 × 5). For variables in which the F test was considered significant, the statistical interpretation of the effect of CG substitution levels was carried out through regression analyses. Kinetic parameters were not affected by CG inclusion. On in vitro NDF degradation, a significant effect of CG levels was observed on the potentially degradable fraction of NDF, the insoluble potentially degradable fraction of NDF, and the undegradable NDF fraction. The intake and digestibility of nutrients and nitrogen balance were not affected by CG inclusion. The CG levels change in vitro NDF degradability parameters; however, there were no changes in animal intake, digestibility, and nitrogen balance with the inclusion levels used.