Patent Application: US-81027008-A

Abstract:
the present invention provides a process for production of high yields of butanol by clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 . the process can be completed in a shorter span of time , using batch process through manipulation of various process parameters . the process can also be used for biomass based production of butanol . this paves the way for the strategic shift of major chemical industries from the hazardous routes of biofuel production to the biological , environmentally benign one .

Description:
the term butanol or biobutanol as used herein refers to n - butanol . the term butanol tolerance as used herein refers to the ability of the bacterium to survive and grow in the presence of ≧ 1 . 3 % butanol in the medium the term clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 refers to the bacteria that has the ability to produce butanol along with acetone and ethanol in an anaerobic fermentation . the term yield as used herein refers to amount of butanol produced in the fermentation broth in g / l . the term hplc as used herein refers to high pressure liquid chromatography . the term “ impurities ” as used herein refers to the byproducts like acetone , ethanol , etc . produced during the process . methods for butanol production as ph is one of the important factors that affect both growth and growth - associated production of molecules , butanol production was examined at different ph . the optimal ph for butanol production by clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 in the present invention was 6 . 5 . this is in accordance to the findings of robson and jones ( 1982 ), who reported that c . acetobutylicum p262 showed good levels of solvent production within the ph range of 5 . 0 - 6 . 5 . similarly , bielbl ( 1999 ) reported that clostridium beijerinkii ncimb 8052 showed much better growth and solvent production at ph 5 . 5 than at ph 5 . 0 or below . the present invention has found that temperatures of 37 ± 2 ° c . is the optimal temperature for butanol production from clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 . this is in contrast to the earlier findings of mccutchan and hickey ( 1954 ) who reported a decrease ( upto 23 %) in the solvent production by clostridium sp . at 37 ° c . as against the fairly constant yields of 31 % at 30 and 33 ° c . the effect of carbon sources on butanol production by clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 , was studied and it was observed that glucose supported the highest butanol production . this was followed by malt extract , the second best carbon source . however , carbon sources like glycerol and sucrose supported a moderate amount of butanol . sugars like rhamnose were not at all utilized by the strain . the most probable reason could be that the strain was unable to transport 2 - deoxy glucose sugar . the study on the concentration of the sugars revealed that 2 % glucose , supported 3 . 2 gl − 1 of butanol . similar has been reported by biebl ( 1 . 999 ) who observed maximum butanol production by c . acetobutylicum atcc 824 in the medium containing 2 . 8 % of glucose . however , in most of the studies , 6 - 7 % has been found to be the optimum glucose concentration for butanol production . in this direction parekh et al . ( 1998 ) reported that 6 . 0 % glucose in the medium yielded 10 . 0 g / l of butanol from c . beijerinkii 8052 strain after 90 h of incubation . subsequently , when malt extract levels were varied in the medium in the range ( 1 . 0 - 10 % w / v ) while keeping the concentration of glucose constant ( at 2 %), 4 . 8 gl − 1 of butanol was produced at 5 % malt extract . similarly , the effect of nutrition limitation on the onset and maintenance of solvent production has been investigated by a number of other workers . for example , long et al ., ( 1984 ) reported that in the batch fermentation using clostridium acetobutylicum p262 , only acids were produced when the concentration of the carbon sources was limited . on supplementation of the medium with 5 % beef extract , a maximum of 5 . 3 gl − 1 of n - butanol was produced as against the control ( 1 % peptone ) wherein 4 . 8 gl − 1 of butanol production was observed . the most probable reason for beef extract being good source of nitrogen is because it not only provides nitrogen but also vitamins , and other nutrients which are essential for the growth of the microorganism metal ions are known to play an important role in maintaining cellular metabolism and enzyme activities ( isar et al ., 2006 ). a significant increase in butanol production was achieved when the medium optimized so far was supplemented with na 2 co 3 . the reason could be that na + is a cofactor for most of the enzymes involved in the anaerobic pathway . strobel et al . ( 1991 ) and lee et al ., ( 2000 ) reported that sodium ions are an important factor for the nutrient uptake . these ions are involved in the formation of transmembrane ph gradient , cell motility and intracellular ph regulation . amongst different salts of sodium ion investigated , it was found that carbonate and bicarbonate were the most effective radicals for the production resulting in approximately 11 . 2 μl − 1 of butanol . change in the inoculum density from 1 - 2 % did not significantly influence butanol production . however , an increase in inoculum density beyond 2 % results in a decline in the production of the solvent . the most probable reason could be that as the inoculum size is increased beyond 2 %, there is nutrition limitation . the present invention provides the effect of different physiological and nutritional parameters on butanol production by clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 . this strain initially produced 0 . 2 gl − 1 of butanol in 84 h in alternate thioglycollate medium . however , when process optimization was employed , 20 . 0 gl − 1 of butanol was produced in 300 ml of the optimized ans medium consisting of glucose ( 2 %), beef extract ( 5 %), malt extract ( 5 %) yeast extract ( 0 . 5 %), k 2 hpo 4 ( 0 . 3 %), na 2 co 3 ( 0 . 6 %), ( nh 4 ) 2 so 4 ( 0 . 1 %), cacl 2 . 2h 2 o ( 0 . 02 %), mgcl 2 . 7h 2 o ( 0 . 02 %), na 2 s ( 0 . 002 %), at ph 6 . 5 , 37 ° c ., under static conditions ( with gentle intermittent manual shaking ) in 96 h . interestingly , it was also observed that the strain is tolerant to 2 . 5 % butanol under optimized medium and conditions . the verification of the process in 300 ml medium clearly indicated that the process can be scaled up to higher size and about 20 gl − 1 of butanol could be produced . the most probable reason for this increase in the yield could be the availability of more head space in bigger size bottles as against the smaller bottles . the clostridium strain used in the present invention has shown tolerance to 2 . 5 % butanol . the most probable reason for its high tolerance to butanol may be that the process optimization has resulted in the final set of physio - chemical conditions under which the above mentioned limitations are overcome . for example , the redox opotential , osmolarity , electron flow may have been altered under the optimized conditions . certain set of enzymes required for butanol tolerance and production may have been activated or induced under the optimized conditions . the culture may have adapted during the course of study ( optimization process ). since the actual tolerance level of this strain has never been reported earlier , it may also be the intrinsic un - exploited property of the strain . in several instances , a strain normally not reported to produce a biomolecule starts making it in significant amounts after process optimization ( isar et al ., 2006 ). further studies on utilization of various biomass for butanol production using the conditions described above was performed . in particular , the biomass studied was jatropha seed cake and banana stem . various pretreatments were given to the biomass prior to its use for the production of butanol . these pretreatments make the sugars from the biomass available for fermentation . the pretreatments include subjecting to fungal degradation , acid treatment , alkali treatment or microwave digestion . jatropha seed cake was incubated with fungal culture pleurotus ostreatus at 23 ° c . for a month and the biomass was extracted with a buffer . after extraction , the biomass was used as a supplement at different concentrations ( 1 , 3 , 5 and 10 %) in anaerobic sugar medium having 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate . a yield of 8 . 4 g / l of butanol was obtained after 48h using 3 % of the fungal pretreated jatropha seed cake . in addition to this , when 1 % soybean meal was added in ans medium supplemented with 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate and 4 % of beef extract a maximum yield of 10 . 5 g / l of butanol after 96 h . experiments were also done on banana stem and jatropha seed pretreated with sodium hydroxide . the alkali treated biomass was supplemented at various concentrations in ans medium having 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate . at 1 % supplementation , a yield of 8 . 1 g / l butanol was obtained in ans medium containing predigested banana stem as against 5 . 0 g / l butanol with predigested jatropha seed cake . with microwave digested biomass supplementation , a yield of 6 . 9 g / l of butanol was obtained after 84 h when 2 % microwave treated banana stem was added to ans medium having 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate . with 1 % microwave digested jatropha seed cake supplementation , 7 . 0 g / l of butanol was obtained after 84 h . supplementation with 0 . 1 n sulphuric acid treated biomass in ans medium having 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate resulted in a yield of 5 . 0 g / l of butanol after 84 h for 1 % banana stem and a yield of 4 . 0 g / l of butanol after 84 h for 1 % jatropha seed cake . quantitation of butanol production by hplc the present invention relates to the use of hplc method for the quantitative estimation of butanol , which is less time consuming , cost effective having increased industrial viability . as the run time indicating the presence of n - butanol is much less as less as 7 . 3 min as compared to ( 30 - 50 min ) of the methods available in public domain . the factors that are responsible to reduce the run time is the optimal combination of the mobile phase solvents acetonitrile and 0 . 5 mm h 2 so 4 ( 1 : 9 ). the flow rate has also been optimized to 1 . 5 ml / min . the method in particular is used for the detection of butanol in the fermentation broth which can be applied for analysis of large number of samples on a routine basis . the present invention relates to development of a quick and efficient high performance liquid chromatographic ( hplc ) method for the estimation of butanol produced through anaerobic fermentation carried out using clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 . here , a prp 300x ( hamilton ) column is used for the estimation of butanol on a hplc system where acetonitrile and 0 . 5 mm h 2 so 4 ( 1 : 9 ) is used as the mobile phase , at a flow rate of 1 . 5 ml / min at 37 ° c . ri is used as the detector . as stated above the previous reports on the use of hplc , the run time for estimation of butanol is as high as 30 - 50 min , making it difficult to analyse large number of samples . similarly , the gc method reported for the estimation of butanol requires extraction or derivatization of the sample , which can lead to handling loss . to date there has been no publication on the reports on the use of hplc , showing a reduced run time below 30 min for estimation of butanol . the inventors of the present invention have developed a process that provides the run time which as low as 7 . 6 min to detect a sample and does not require any extraction procedures . the importance of the invention is that it takes very short time ( 7 . 3 min ) to efficiently detect the butanol present in the fermentation broth . hence a huge number of samples can be analysed on routine basis in a very short time . the following examples are included to demonstrate preferred embodiments of the invention . it should be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the techniques disclosed in the examples which follow represent techniques discovered by the inventor to function well in the practice of the invention , and thus can be considered to constitute preferred modes for its practice . however , those of skill in the art should , in light of the present disclosure , appreciate that many changes can be made in the specific embodiments which are disclosed and still obtain a like or similar result without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 was grown in 125 ml anaerobic bottles containing 50 ml of the anaerobic sugar ( ans ) medium with the composition ( gl − 1 ): glucose ( 20 . 0 ); peptone ( 10 . 0 ); yeast extract ( 5 . 0 ); k 2 hpo 4 ( 3 . 0 ); nacl ( 1 . 0 ); ( nh 4 ) 2 so 4 ( 1 . 0 ); cacl 2 2 h 2 o ( 0 . 2 ); mgcl 2 6 h 2 o ( 0 . 2 ); and na 2 co 3 ( 1 . 0 ), ph 6 . 5 . the medium was sterilized ( 15 min , at 121 ° c .) in glass bottles sealed with butyl rubber bungs . the headspace was filled with by n 2 , and na 2 s . 9h 2 o ( 0 . 02 %) was added to remove traces of dissolved oxygen ( samuelov et al ., 1991 ; lee et al ., 2000 ). the reduced medium was inoculated with 2 % seed inoculum and incubated at 37 ± 1 ° c . for 96 h with intermittent gentle shaking . after the desired incubation period , the culture was withdrawn from the sealed vials using sterile disposable syringes and was centrifuged at 8000 × g in a eppendorf centrifuge ( model no 54151 ) for 10 min . supernatant was filtered through 0 . 45 □ filter . the sample ( 20 μl ) were analysed by hplc , ( ehrlich et al ., 1981 ) on a prp 300x ′ column ( hamilton ) using acetonitrile and 0 . 5 mm h 2 so 4 ( 9 : 1 ) as the mobile phase , at a flow rate of 1 . 5 ml / min at 37 ° c . butanol was detected using a ri detector . various media tested for butanol production were anaerobic sugar ( ans ) medium , ( isar et al ., 2006 ); reinforced clostridial ( rc ) medium , ( lin and blaschek , 1983 ); soluble starch medium ( ssm ), ( moreira et al ., 1981 ); alternate thioglycollate ( at ) media , ( lin and blaschek , 1983 ); potato starch media ( psm ), ( fouad et al ., 1976 ). amongst the media tested , ans medium was the best yielding 3 . 2 g / l of butanol ( table 1 ). butanol production was optimized in the ans medium where the effects of different physiological and nutritional parameters were studied . subsequently , the effect of ph ( 5 - 7 ) and temperature ( 25 - 45 ° c .) was studied in the selected medium for butanol production . it was observed that the optimal ph for production is 6 . 5 , yielding 3 . 2 g / l of butanol in 84 h ( fig1 ). results on the effect of different temperatures ( 25 , 33 , 37 , 39 & amp ; 45 ° c .) showed that 3 . 0 g / l of butanol was produced at 37 ± 2 ° c . in 84 h ( fig2 ). optimization of the nutritional parameters including carbon source , nitrogen source , metal ions required for maximum production of butanol was carried out . various carbon sources employed include glucose , fructose , sucrose lactose , malt extract and glycerol at a concentration of 2 . 0 % w / v in the medium . none of the carbon sources supported as much butanol production ( 3 . 2 gl − 1 ) as glucose in 84 h ( fig3 ). further , 2 . 0 % w / v glucose gives the highest yield i . e . 3 . 2 gl − 1 of butanol ( fig4 ). approximately , 4 . 82 gl − 1 of butanol was produced when 5 % malt extract was added along with 2 % glucose in the ans medium ( fig5 ). for nitrogen source optimisation , peptone ( 1 % w / v ) in the medium was replaced by different inorganic ( ammonium hydrogen phosphate , ammonium chloride , sodium nitrate and urea ) and organic nitrogen sources ( yeast extract , beef extract , corn steep liquor , and tryptone ) at the same concentration . beef extract was found to be the best nitrogen source resulting in the production of 5 . 2 gl − 1 of butanol ( fig6 ). optimization of concentration showed that 5 . 0 % w / v of beef extract is optimum for butanol production ( 7 . 8 gl 1 ) ( fig7 ). to assess the effect of metal ions , the carbonate / sulphate / chloride salts of different metal ions ( na + , mg ++ , ca ++ , zn ++ , k + mn ++ ) at 0 . 5 % concentration were separately added in the medium . a significant increase in butanol production ( 11 . 1 gl − 1 ) was achieved when the medium optimized so far was supplemented with na 2 co 3 at 0 . 5 %. metal ion like cu did not support any amount of butanol production ( fig8 ). among the various salts of sodium investigated including chloride , carbonate , sulphate and phosphate , carbonate was most effective for the production resulting in 11 . 2 gl − 1 of butanol ( table 2 ). further , upon optimizing the concentration of na 2 co 3 , it was observed that 0 . 5 % w / v is optimal for butanol production ( 11 . 0 gl − 1 ) ( fig9 ). effect of inoculum size on butanol production was investigated . the optimized medium was inoculated with different inoculum size ( 1 - 10 %). inoculum at 1 % was found to yield maximum butanol ( 14 . 5 gl − 1 ) ( fig1 ). however , with increase in the inoculum density beyond 2 %, the production of butanol declined the butanol tolerance level of the strain used in the present investigation was evaluated . the strain was inoculated in 50 ml of the optimized ans medium containing different concentrations of butanol ( 0 . 5 %, 1 . 0 %, 1 . 3 % 1 . 5 %, 1 . 8 %, 2 . 0 %, 2 . 5 %). bottles were incubated for 96 h at 37 ° c . under static conditions with gentle intermittent manual shaking . the strain was found to tolerate upto 2 . 5 % butanol in the medium . butanol production in the optimized medium was validated in 500 ml anaerobic bottles containing 300 ml of the optimized medium . 1 % of the inoculum was aseptically added with the help of syringe into the bottles and incubated at 37 ° c . for 96 h . a maximum of 20 gl - 1 of butanol was produced . the butanol production in optimized medium using clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 was scaled up to 5 l level in a 10 l fermentor ( bioflow iv , nbs , usa ). the optimized ans medium was sterilized in situ at 110 ° c . for 15 min . the medium was inoculated with 2 % of the seed inoculum ( od 660 nm ≈ 0 . 6 ) and fermentation was carried out at 37 ± 1 ° c . for 84 h . the impeller speed was initially adjusted to 100 rpm and compressed sterile n2 was initially flushed for 30 min to create anaerobic environment and was subsequently sparged intermittently into the fermentor at rate of 0 . 5 vvm . samples were harvested periodically at an interval of 12 h and analyzed for butanol production using hplc and gc . the fermentation parameters such as temperature , n 2 supply and agitation rate were continuously monitored and regulated . the butanol production started at 24 h in the fermentor and a maximum of 20 . 3 gl − 1 of butanol was produced in 48 h . thereafter , there was no significant increase in the production of butanol ( fig1 & amp ; table 3 ) indicating a significant reduction in the production time of butanol at higher scale . finely ground jatropha seeds , ( 100 g , approx . mesh size 50 mm ) was suspended in 50 ml of basal salt medium ( 0 . 5 % glucose , 0 . 1 % kh 2 po 4 , 0 . 05 % mgso 4 . 7h 2 o , 0 . 05 % kci , 0 . 05 % yeast extract ). to this 50 ml each of stock solution i and stock solution ii were added ( stock solution i : 0 . 02 % feso 4 . 7h 2 o and stock solution ii : 0 . 016 % mn ( ch 3 coo ) 2 . 4h 2 o , 0 . 004 % zn ( no 3 ) 2 . 4h 2 o , 0 . 1 % ca ( no 3 ) 2 . 4h 2 o , 0 . 006 % cuso 4 . 5h 2 o ). the entire mixture was autoclaved at 121 ° c . for 30 min and inoculated with 5 - 6 small malt extract ( 2 %) agar blocks ( 1cmx 1cm ) of two week old pleurotus ostreatus ( grown at 25 ° c .). the flask was incubated at 23 ° c . for 30 days . after incubation , 500 ml of 50 mm citrate buffer ( ph 5 . 0 ) was added and the contents were mixed thoroughly by shaking on the rotary shaker ( 200 rpm ) for 2 h . the contents of the flask was squeezed using muslin cloth and the solid biomass was used as a supplement at different concentrations ( 1 , 3 , 5 , and 10 %) in 50 ml anaerobic sugar ( ans ) medium having 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate contained in 125 ml of the sealed anaerobic bottles . a maximum yield of 8 . 4 g / l of butanol was obtained after 48 h using 3 % of the fungal pretreated jatropha seed cake . in addition to this , when 1 % soybean meal was added in ans medium supplemented with 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate and 4 % of beef extract a maximum yield of 10 . 5 g / l of butanol after 96 h . 2 . banana stem and jatropha seed pretreated with sodium hydroxide digestion method ( a ) the banana stem was cut into small pieces and 100 g of these banana stem pieces were kept in 500 ml of 0 . 5m naoh for 24 h with intermittent gentle shaking . after 24 h , these pieces were washed with running tap water to remove the alkali and were added to the ans medium having 0 . 5 % of caco 3 at different concentrations for studying their effect on the production of butanol . the highest production of butanol 8 . 1 g / l was achieved in ans medium containing 1 % of the predigested banana stem . ( b ) the jatropha seeds were finely ground and were put into 500 ml of 0 . 5m naoh for 24 h at room temperature . after 24 h , these pieces were washed with running tap water to remove sodium hydroxide . the different concentrations of pretreated jatropha seed cake were added to ans media ( containing 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate ). the highest production of butanol 5 . 0 g / l when 1 % of the predigested jatropha seed was added to the ans medium having 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate . ( a ) the banana stem was cut into the small pieces and partially digested in microwave oven for 10 min . the digested banana stem was ground in a mixer and finely ground banana was again digested in a microwave for 5 min . sugar was analyzed by dns method . a maximum yield of 6 . 9 g / l of butanol was obtained after 84 h when 2 % microwave treated banana stem was added to ans medium having 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate . ( b ) the finely ground jatropha seed ( 20 g ) was added to 500 ml distilled water and cooked for 10 min in microwave oven . microwave treated jatropha seeds were cooled down and again treated for 10 min in microwave oven . sugar was analyzed by dns method . the results showed that a maximum of 7 . 0 g / l of butanol was obtained after 84 h using 1 % microwave treated jatropha seed cake in the ans medium supplemented with 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate and 0 . 5 ml glycerol . 4 . banana stem and jatropha seed pretreated with 0 . 1n sulphuric acid ( a ) the banana stem was cut into small pieces . approximately , 100 g of these banana stem pieces were kept in 500 ml of 0 . 1n sulphuric acid for 24 h . these pieces were then washed with running tap water and were dried completely . the different concentration of this pretreated banana stem was then added to ans media containing 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate . the results showed that a maximum yield of 5 . 0 g / l of butanol was obtained after 84 h when 1 % acid treated banana stem was added to ans medium containing 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate . ( b ) the jatropha seed cake was ground . approx . 50 g of the ground jatropha seeds were treated with 500 ml of 0 . 1n sulphuric acid for 24 hours . after 24 h , these pieces were washed with running tap water to remove sulphuric acid . the predigested jatropha seed cake was dried completely . this pretreated jatropha seed cake was added to ans media ( having 0 . 5 % calcium carbonate ) at different concentrations . a yield of 4 . 0 g / l of butanol was obtained after 84 h using 1 % acid pretreated jatropha seed cake . the butanol tolerance of clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 was studied by subjecting the bacteria to various concentrations of butanol in the growth medium ranging from 1 . 5 % to 3 . 5 %. the tolerance was tested in both , the un - optimized ans medium and optimized ans medium . the bottles were inoculated with clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 after inoculation , the medium was incubated at 37 ° c . for 144 h and the od at 600 nm was monitored at a regular interval of 12 h . the results clearly indicate that the wild type clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 can tolerate up to 3 . 0 % butanol under un - optimized conditions ( fig1 and 3 . 5 % butanol under optimized conditions ( fig1 ). the mechanism of solvent tolerance in clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 was evaluated by screening for overexpression of the heat shock protein groel . the butanol tolerant strain clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 , was grown in 125 ml sealed anaerobic vial containing 50 ml of anaerobic sugar ( ans ) medium with 2 . 3 % butanol while the unadapted strain of clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 was grown ans medium devoid of butanol . the bottles were incubated for 24 h at 37 ° c . under static conditions . the cells were screened for overexpression of groel by western blotting . after the desired incubation period , 1 . 0 ml of the culture from each vial was withdrawn with the help of the sterilized disposable syringe and was centrifuged at 10 , 00 rpm at 4 ° c . for 20 min . the pellet was collected and dispensed in 100 μl of 0 . 1 m tris buffer ( ph 8 . 0 ). the pellet was sonicated and centrifuged for 1 min at 8500 rpm at 4 ° c . the supernatant was collected as the crude extract . for electrophoresis of proteins , crude extract of butanol tolerant strain and non - tolerant strain were run on sodium dodecyl sulfate - polyacrylamide gel ( sds - page ). the protein concentration in the extract was normalized in the extract . after electrophoresis , proteins were transferred to 0 . 2 - μm immun - blot polyvinylidene difluoride membranes ( bio - rad ). the membranes were blocked with 5 % skimmed milk in tris - buffered saline plus tween 20 ( tbst ) for 12 - 16 h before hybridization . the blocked membrane was incubated for 1 hr with anti - groel antibody produced in rabbit ( sigma ), at dilutions of 1 : 10 , 000 . after incubation the membrane was washed thrice with tbst buffer for 5 min each . monoclonal anti rabbit immunoglobulins — alkaline phosphatase , antibody produced in mouse at dilution of 1 : 10 , 000 were used as a secondary antibody ( sigma ). the membrane was incubated with the secondary antibody for 1 h . all antibody dilutions were prepared in tbst buffer . the membrane was washed with tbst buffer thrice for 5 min each . the membrane was developed with 5 ml of bcip - nbt solution ( sigma ). the solvent - tolerant strain of clostridium beijerinckii atcc 10132 shows the presence of a prominent band of groel ( fig1 , lane 2 ) whereas in the un - adapted strain , the band is hardly visible ( fig1 , lane 1 ). for purification of butanol from the fermentation broth , the broth was centrifuged for separation of cells . the supernatant was subjected to fractional distillation . the distillate fraction obtained at a vapour temperature of 96 ° c . was collected and the fractions were analyzed for the butanol content by gc on a agilent gas chromatograph equipped with 30m × 0 . 53 mm capillary column db wax 624 ( j & amp ; w scientific , usa ) and a flame ionization detector . n 2 was used as the carrier gas the spilt ratio was set at 10 : 1 . the detector temperature was 300 ° c . one microliter of the sample was injected ( injector temperature 250 ° c .) in to the system for analysis . the recovery by fractional distillation was 47 % with a purity of 91 % ( table 1 ). on the first two columns i . e . rezex organic and aminex hpx column , the retention time for the estimation of butanol was 42 and 32 min respectively . however , on the hamilton prp300x column , butanol could be eluted in as little as 7 . 3 min . ( b ) evaluation of the method at different sampling times of the fermentation to follow the rate of reaction . the samples were harvested at different incubation periods upto 96 h and were analyzed for the butanol concentration using prp 300x column . the butanol concentration gradually increase until it reached a maximum at 84 h . thereafter , the concentration of butanol remains almost constant . the columns used in the present invention is hamilton prp 300 × the mobile phase is acetonitrile : 0 . 5 mm h 2 so 4 ( 1 : 9 ) the detection device involves refractive index ( ri ) at a flow rate of 1 . 5 ml / min at 37 ° c . the samples were withdrawn from the sealed vials using sterile disposable syringes . these samples were then centrifuged at 10 , 000 rpm for 10 minutes and supernatant was filtered through a 0 . 45μ filter prior to analysis . the process of sampling of the fermentation culture medium involves harvesting the broth after the desired incubation period from the sealed anaerobic bottles using sterile disposable syringes . the broth is then centrifuged at 8000 × g in a eppendorf centrifuge for 10 min . the supernatant is then taken out and filtered through 0 . 45μ filter and 20 μl of this filtered supernatant sample is injected in the prp 300x column ( hamilton ). the analysis : the sample ( 20 μl ) was injected into the column using a hamilton syringe . the retention time of butanol was recorded to be 7 . 3 min . the concentration of butanol was calculated by running the standard butanol ( sigma ) in the range of 0 . 5 - 50 g / l as evident from fig1 and 16 . chromatograms shown in these figures clearly indicate that standard n - butanol elutes at a retention time of 7 . 3 min ( fig1 ). the sample also showed a peak at 7 . 3 min indicating the presence of n - butanol ( fig1 ). agarwal , l ., isar , j ., saxena , r . k . 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( 1980 ). chemical and fuel production by anaerobic bacteria . ann rev microbiol 34 : 423 - 464 . thus , while we have described fundamental novel features of the invention , it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details may be possible without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and / or method steps , which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results , be within the scope of the invention .