High-rate continuous n -butanol production by Clostridium acetobutylicum
from glucose and butyric acid in a single-pass fibrous bed bioreactor
Abstract
Biobutanol produced in acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation at batch
mode cannot compete with chemically derived butanol because of the low
reactor productivity. Continuous fermentation can dramatically enhance
productivity and lower capital and operating costs but are rarely used
in industrial fermentation because of increased risks in culture
degeneration, cell washout, and contamination. In this study, cells of
the asporogenous Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC55025 were
immobilized in a single-pass fibrous-bed bioreactor (FBB) for continuous
production of butanol from glucose and butyrate at various dilution
rates. Butyric acid in the feed medium helped maintaining cells in the
solventogenic phase for stable continuous butanol production. At the
dilution rate of 1.88 h -1, butanol was produced at
9.55 g/L with a yield of 0.24 g/g and productivity of 16.8 g/L∙h, which
was the highest ever achieved for biobutanol fermentation and an 80-fold
improvement over the conventional ABE fermentation. The extremely high
productivity was attributed to the high density of viable cells
(~100 g/L at >70% viability) immobilized
in the fibrous matrix, which also enabled the cells to better tolerate
butanol and butyric acid. The FBB was stable for continuous operation
for an extended period of over one month.