Ethanol production in a microporous hollow‐fiber‐based extractive fermentor with immobilized yeast

Whankoo Kang, Rajesh Shukla, K. K. Sirkar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

56 Scopus citations

Abstract

Microporous‐membrane‐based extractive product recovery in product‐inhibited fermentations allows in situ recovery of inhibitory products in a nondispersive fashion. A tubular bioreactor with continuous strands of hydrophobic microporous hollow fibers having extracting solvent flowing in fiber lumen was utilized for yeast fermentation of glucose to ethanol. Yeast was effectively immobilized on the shell side in small lengths of chopped microporous hyrophilic hollow fibers. The beneficial effects of in situ dispersion‐free solvent ex (oleyl alcohol and dibutyl phthalate) were demonstrated for a 300 g/L glucose substrate feed. Outlet glucose concentration dropped drastically from 123 to 41 g/L as solvent/ substrate flow ratio was increased from 0 to 3 at 9 mL/h of substrate flow rate with oleyl alcohol as extracting solvent. The significant productivity increase with in situ solvent extraction became more evident as solvent/ substrate flow ratio increased. A model of the locally integrated extractive bioreactor describes the observed fermentor performance quite well.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)826-833
Number of pages8
JournalBiotechnology and Bioengineering
Volume36
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 20 1990
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biotechnology
  • Bioengineering
  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

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