ISCF WAVE 1 IB Process intensification of cellulosic biofuel production using continuous product extraction with microbubble technology

f27c81f7-2ad7-407c-947b-9aa06401ce0b

Closed

UKRI
UKRI
UKRI
UKRI
UKRI

£315,105

April 30, 2018

March 31, 2019

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Technical Abstract:
Perlemax has developed and patented the concept of microbubble generation by virtue of fluidic oscillation which has advantages over current methods of microbubble generation due to its very low power input. This opens up the field of microbubble technology to a much wider range of applications, including addressing processes where mass-transfer is a limitation. We intend to address the issue of ethanol removal from thermophilic (60-65C) fermentation broths to improve cellulosic biofuel production. Batch production of bioethanol by the thermophilic bacterium Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius is limited by moderate (cf yeast) concentrations of bio-ethanol which significantly limits the possibility for process intensification and volumetric productivity. This can be improved by gas-stripping but the volumetric throughput of gas using normal sparger aeration would be impractical in a commercial process. As a practical and economic solution to this problem we will continuously extract fermentation products from the bioreactor by using pre-heated microbubbles using the Perlemax energy efficient microbubble generation technique. Availability of high interfacial area for mass transfer and intense internal mixing within the microbubbles will be key features in this approach.
While the rationale for the approach should be self-evident, the effect of microbubbles on the production organisms needs to be established. Microbubbles could potentially damage bacteria when rupturing at the top of the reactor. Therefore, after an initial optimisation using simulated broths, to establish the useful operating range, we will investigate the physiology of bacteria during experiments and adjust the operating parameters to find the most suitable conditions. Additionally, we will develop a computational model to assist scaling up the process and assess economic viability.

Potential Impact:
As described in proposal submitted to TSB