98
Acoustically-Enhanced
Extractive Fermentation for Biomass Utilization--Resodyn Corporation, 1901
South Franklin, Butte, MT 59701; 406-723-2222
Dr. Todd McAdams, Principal
Investigator,
Mr. Lawrence C. Farrar, Business
Official, lcfarrar@montecresearch
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-03ER83764
Amount:
$100,000
Combining the unit operations of solvent extraction and
fermentation would substantially lower the capital cost and operating expense of
converting biomass to usable products. However,
attempts to develop these extractive fermentations have suffered from oxygen and
mass transfer limitations and long coalescing times.
This project will apply novel acoustic agitation technology in the
construction of an improved extractive fermentation bioreactor.
This novel mixing technology will dramatically enhance gas-liquid and
liquid-liquid mass transfer beyond standard impeller mixers, with even more
improvement as the viscosity increases. Phase
I will characterize the mass and oxygen transfer in the novel extractive
fermentation bioreactor. The level
of improvement will be quantified by conducting extractive fermentations with
two processes of relevance to biomass conversion.
Commercial
Applications and Other Benefits as described by awardee:
The technology should lead to sales of extractive fermentation
bioreactors to companies developing large-scale biorefineries for the conversion
of biomass to usable products (e.g., ethanol production). The technology also
should enable the development of new extraction matrices that are currently
limited by viscosity considerations.