Novel two-stage solid-state fermentation for erythritol production on okara–buckwheat husk medium

•Low-cost and operable two-stage SSF for enhancing erythritol production was proposed.•Buckwheat husk was used for the first time as the inert support in solid medium.•Up to 143.3 mg/gds of erythritol was obtained from okara-BH substrates via SSF.•The undesired mannitol and citric acid were obviously inhibited in the optimized SSF. An economical model of two-stage solid state fermentation (SSF) (prefermentation stage with Mucor flavus and in situ erythritol fermentation stage with Yarrowia lipolytica) for enhancing erythritol production was investigated. Buckwheat husk (BH) was utilized as inert support for the first time and okara as the substrate. Morphological properties suggested yeast cells were exposed in adequate oxygen leading to high erythritol yield, and enzyme activities analysis indicated M. flavus and Y. lipolytica grew and cooperated well during the two ferment stages. Maximum erythritol production (143.3 mg/gds) was obtained from okara–BH mixture (5:2, w/w) supplemented with 0.01 g/gds NaCl, with an initial moisture content of 60% and pH of 4.0 for 192 h, while undesired mannitol and citric acid were suppressed. Compared with submerged fermentation, two-stage SSF was short period, energy conserving and operable for erythritol production from insoluble wastes, and this is the first report on erythritol production via SSF.