Poster Presentation 3-42
A Novel Two-Stage Fermentation Process for Butanol Production from Corn
David E. Ramey,1 Zhu Ying,2 and Shang T. Yang2
1Environmental Energy Inc. P.O. Box 15, 1253 N. Waggoner Rd. Blacklick, OH 43004
2Department of Chemical Engineering Ohio State University 140 West 19th Ave. Columbus, OH 43210
Telephone: (614) 864-5650; Fax: (614) 864-0120; E-mail: eei@infinet.com
Optimizing the ABE (Acetone, Butanol, Ethanol) fermentation process has long been the aspiration of over a century of research. Producing only butanol via butyric acid converted from carbohydrates has proven to be very efficient. The application of US Patent No. 5,563,069 “Extractive Fermentation Using Convoluted Fibrous Bed Bio-reactor” to US Patent No. 5,753,474 “Continuous Two Stage, Dual Path Anaerobic Fermentation of Butanol and Other Organic Solvents Using Two Different Strains of Bacteria” makes approaching a theoretical maximum yield of 2.5 gallons per bushel of corn possible; increasing the BTU’s derived from a bushel of corn by about 25% when compared to ethanol. In this work, we developed a continuous fermentation that stabilized the uptake of butyric acid by Clostridium acetobutylicum without shutting down solventogenesis. By eliminating production of all the ancillary byproducts, the process now uses carbohydrates to manufacture only butyric acid and butanol. The improvement in butanol yield, along with increasing the fermentation rate and butanol tolerance by the bacteria in the fibrous-bed bioreactor, makes production of butanol from corn an attractive alternative to ethanol fermentation. Commercialization of this new technology has the propensity to reduce dependence on foreign oil and protect fuel generation from sudden disruption by disseminating it throughout the country instead of being centralized along coastal regions.
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