Calverley, J., Zimmerman, W.B. orcid.org/0000-0001-7123-737X, Leak, D.J. et al. (1 more author) (2021) Continuous removal of ethanol from dilute ethanol-water mixtures using hot microbubbles. Chemical Engineering Journal, 424. 130511. ISSN 1385-8947
Abstract
Product inhibition is a barrier to many fermentation processes, including bioethanol production, and is responsible for dilute product streams which are energy intensive to purify. The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether hot microbubble stripping could be used to remove ethanol continuously from dilute ethanol–water mixtures expected in a bioreactor and maintain ethanol concentrations below the inhibitory levels for the thermophile Parageobacillus thermoglucosidasius (TM242), that can utilize a range of sugars derived from lignocellulosic biomass. A custom-made microbubble stripping unit that produces clouds of hot microbubbles (~120 °C) by fluidic oscillation was used to remove ethanol from ~2% (v/v) ethanol–water mixtures maintained at 60 °C. Ethanol was continuously added to the unit to simulate microbial metabolism. The initial liquid height and the ethanol addition rate were varied from 10 to 50 mm and 2.1–21.2 g h−1 respectively. In all the experiments, ethanol concentration was maintained well below the inhibition threshold of the target organism (~2% [v/v]). This microbubble stripping unit has the potential to operate in conjunction with a 0.5–1.0 L fermenter to allow an ethanol productivity of 14.9–7.8 g L−1h−1 continuously.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Microbubbles; Ethanol–water mixtures; Air stripping; Product inhibition; Bioethanol recovery |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL EP/N011511/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jun 2021 15:40 |
Last Modified: | 18 Jun 2021 15:40 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.cej.2021.130511 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:174836 |