Modeling and experimental studies on intermittent starch feeding and citrate addition in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of starch to flavor compounds

Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is a combined process of saccharification of a renewable bioresource and fermentation process to produce products, such as lactic acid and ethanol. Recently, SSF has been extensively used to convert various sources of cellulose and starch into fermentative products. Here, we present a study on production of buttery flavors, namely diacetyl and acetoin, by growing Lactobacillus rhamnosus on a starch medium containing the enzyme glucoamylase. We further develop a structured kinetics for the SSF process, which includes enzyme and growth kinetics. The model was used to simulate the effect of pH and temperature on the SSF process so as to obtain optimum operating conditions. The model was experimentally verified by conducting SSF using an initial starch concentration of 100 g/L. The study demonstrated that the developed kinetic was able to suggest strategies for improved productivities. The developed model was able to accurately predict the enhanced productivity of flavors in a three stage process with intermittent addition of starch. Experimental and simulations demonstrated that citrate addition can also lead to enhanced productivity of flavors. The developed optimal model for SSF was able to capture the dynamics of SSF in batch mode as well as in a three stage process. The structured kinetics was also able to quantify the effect of multiple substrates present in the medium. The study demonstrated that structured kinetic models can be used in the future for design and optimization of SSF as a batch or a fed-batch process.