Monday, April 19, 2010
12-10
Energetic gains obtained with the use of recovery technologies in the fermentation to produce biobutanol
The fermentation to produce biobutanol is characterized by its low productivity. Product toxicity results in low butanol concentration in the fermentor. In addition, the use of dilute sugar solution results in large process volumes. Mainly because of these problems and due to high costs related to the distillation of dilute product streams, the production of biobutanol on a commercial scale has been considered to be uneconomical.
The use of technologies designed to remove the butanol continuously from the fermentation broth (recovery technologies) reduces the effect of product inhibition and allows an increase in the substrate concentration which results in a reduction in process streams, and higher productivity. Distillation cost can also be reduced because with these technologies butanol concentration is increased in the product stream.
In this work the distillation unit designed to separate n-butanol from water was simulated using the UNISIM® simulator. The n-butanol/water azeotropic distillation system consists of two distillation columns, a decanter and a single condenser. The aim was to quantify the energetic gains in the distillation unit of a fermentation process that employs recovery technologies. A curve correlating butanol concentration in the product stream and energy consumption in the reboilers of the distillation columns was obtained. When the typical concentration of butanol of 8 g/L in the product stream increases to 40 g/L, the amount of energy required by the reboilers reduces 67.8%. Therefore, with the recovery technologies meaningful economic gains are expected, and moreover, environmental benefits can also be achieved, since lower quantities of wastewater would be generated by the distillation of a more concentrated product stream.
The use of technologies designed to remove the butanol continuously from the fermentation broth (recovery technologies) reduces the effect of product inhibition and allows an increase in the substrate concentration which results in a reduction in process streams, and higher productivity. Distillation cost can also be reduced because with these technologies butanol concentration is increased in the product stream.
In this work the distillation unit designed to separate n-butanol from water was simulated using the UNISIM® simulator. The n-butanol/water azeotropic distillation system consists of two distillation columns, a decanter and a single condenser. The aim was to quantify the energetic gains in the distillation unit of a fermentation process that employs recovery technologies. A curve correlating butanol concentration in the product stream and energy consumption in the reboilers of the distillation columns was obtained. When the typical concentration of butanol of 8 g/L in the product stream increases to 40 g/L, the amount of energy required by the reboilers reduces 67.8%. Therefore, with the recovery technologies meaningful economic gains are expected, and moreover, environmental benefits can also be achieved, since lower quantities of wastewater would be generated by the distillation of a more concentrated product stream.
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See more of The 32nd Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals (April 19-22, 2010)
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See more of The 32nd Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals (April 19-22, 2010)