Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Zsófia Kádár, Martin Malthe Borch, Henrik Bangsř Nielsen and Jens Ejbye Schmidt, Biosystems Division, Risř National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark – Risř DTU, Roskilde, Denmark
Butanol as a liquid biofuel can provide more benefits than ethanol, due to its gasoline-like properties: it has more than 80% energy density of gasoline, does not absorb water and can be transported through the existing oil and gasoline distribution infrastructure, can be used in gasoline-powered vehicles without modification at higher volumes than ethanol. Butanol can be produced from the same feedstocks as ethanol (starch and cellulosic sugars) but the butanol producing
Clostridia is able to ferment different kind of carbohydrates including C6 and C5 sugars. Several strains might have the ability for the direct production of butanol from cellulosic biomass due to the cellulolytic and xylanolytic activities.
Macro algaes can grow on non-agricultural land, without increasing food prices, using fresh water, meanwhile consuming CO2 for growing. In addition, macro algaes general have very high biomass yield (doubles its biomass within 3-4 days) with high carbohydrate content (60 g/l) and macro algae represent a huge unexploited bioresource with potential for production of biofuel in the near future.
The aim of our studies was to examine a combined biorefinery concept with butanol and biogas production. Small scale batch fermentation experiments were performed on pretreated and hydrolyzed macroalgaes (Ulva lactuca and Chaetomorpha linum) by anaerobic Clostridium beijerinckii. Both macroalgaes were found to be suitable substrates for ABE (Acetone Butanol Ethanol) fermentation, with a total ABE production of 0.35 g/g glucose. The effluent as a substrate was further studied in batch experiments by anaerobic digestion for biogas production.
