Product recovery optimization during alcohol fermentation ABE-Fermentation Product recovery optimization during alcohol fermentation Rom Antonia Friedl Anton arom@mail.zserv.tuwien.ac.at Gefördert bzw. finanziert in der Programmlinie „A3plus“ – vom Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie (BMVIT)

Butanol – the next bio fuel ABE-Fermentation Butanol – the next bio fuel Starch products Fermentation Down Streaming The Project: Pro Butanol Contra Butanol High energy content Low productivity Low water absorption Product inhibition at 20 g/l Low vapor pressure Good blending ability Less corrosive Investigation of different down streaming processes Assessment of different membrane materials On – line down streaming during fermentation process Simulation in Aspen Plus

Down Streaming in ABE - Fermentation Substrate: wheat bran Fermentation broth: Aqueous solution with 6:3:1 ratio (Butanol:Acetone:Ethanol) Due to product inhibition in-situ butanol recovery is investigated by membrane separation or gas stripping Vacuum Membrane distillation Pervaporation Gas stripping (liquid) (liquid) (vapour)

Vacuum Membrane Distillation ABE-Fermentation Vacuum Membrane Distillation vacuum concentrated butanol ABE - broth

Membrane Distillation Pervaporation ABE - Fermentation Membrane Distillation Pervaporation Porous membrane Dense membrane Material: PP Material: e.g. PDMS, Zeolith Capillary module Flat sheet module Tubulare module Zeolith module

ABE - Fermentation CP – capillary module TP – tubular module The effect of feed concentration and permeate pressure on butanol flux The effect of feed concentration and permeate pressure on selectivity Higher vacuum on permeate site as well as an increasing feed concentration yields higher transmembrane fluxes. Though it results in different selective characteristics.