Trehalose as a common industrial fermentation byproduct

During the analysis of several industrial fermentation byproduct streams significant amounts of α,α-trehalose and α,β-isomaltose were found. These disaccharides were purified from one of the fermentation-byproduct streams and identified by chromatography and 600-MHz 1H NMR. Examination of fermentation streams before and after the addition of active organisms established that α,α-trehalose is a product of the fermentation and α,β-isomaltose is a component of the starting nutrients. Analysis of a number of agribusiness industrial-byproduct streams has had the objective of identifying compounds of potential value for isolation, or determing those that may be toxic to microorganisms in the anaerobic methanogenesis of organic compounds in the streams. The frequent occurrence of two disaccharides was noted in those streams from fermentation processes and prompted this study.