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Production of Butyric Acid and Butanol from

Biomass Small Business

 

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-00ER86106

Amount:  $100,000

 

Small Business	Research Institution
Environmental Energy, Inc.	The Ohio State University Research Foundation
1253 North Waggoner Road	1960 Kenny Road
Blacklick, OH  43004	Columbus, OH  43210
Dr. David E. Ramey, Principal Investigator
Dr. David E. Ramey, Business Official
614-864-5650

 

Butanol is an important industrial solvent used for the manufacture of explosive cordite, industrial solvents, and rubber monomers.  It also has been used as a fuel and, if produced from corn or other biomass, would be a better value-added fuel extender than ethanol, now used in the formulation of gasohol.  Butanol can be produced by the acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation of biomass by the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum.  However, the yield of the butanol component is very low compared to the acetone and ethanol components, and almost all butanol is now produced via petrochemical routes.  This project will develop a novel approach using two sequential fermentation steps to short-cut the complex ABE fermentation pathway by directing the glucose fermentation to butyric acid and then to butanol.  By separating acid (i.e., butyric acid) production (using an asporogenic strain) from solvent (i.e., butanol) formation (using C. acetobutylicum), more glucose carbon can be used for butanol production, and butanol yields greater than 40 percent can be expected -- almost 100 percent higher than that from conventional ABE fermentations.  Phase I will evaluate the feasibility of the proposed two-step butanol fermentation process.  Phase II will optimize important process parameters, scale-up the design, and build a small pilot to test the process.

 

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:  The technology has the potential to make renewable resources a major source of affordable fuels and chemicals, thereby reducing our Nation’s dependence on foreign oil, improving air and water quality, and reducing the net production of greenhouse gases.