(744c) Oscillatory Ethanol Extraction By Pervaporation From a Membrane Bioreactor

Energy consumption for ethanol production is intensive due to low concentration of the product in the fermentation broth which is purifies in a series of distillations columns. And also, ethanol concentration can not be easily increased from 9%v/v in conventional fermentation due to product inhibition of the yeast. A hybrid fermentation and pervaporation process promises to reduce inhibition while a high concentration of ethanol is obtained by a selective membrane. Based on pervaporation experimental data, this work analyses several continuous hybrid configurations of fermentation and pervaporation systems. A conventional fermentation system (CFS), a hybrid fermentation pervaporation system (FPS) and a hybrid oscillatory fermentation-pervaporation system (OFPS) are compared in terms of ethanol productivity, product concentration and energy required for purification by distillation of the product stream.