(6de) Performance Comparison of Ethanol and Butanol Production in a Continuous and Closed-Circulating Fermentation System with Membrane Bioreactor

Aerobic ethanol fermentation and anerobic butanol fermentation were conducted in a continuous and closed-circulating fermentation (CCCF) system, with the fermentation duration of 21 and 12 days respectively. Performance of both fermentation and pervaporation were compared, the average cell concentration, glucose consumption rate, cumulated production concentration, production flux and separation factor of ethanol fermentation were 11.45 g/L, 3.70g/L/h, 655.83 g/L, 378.5 g/m²/h, 4.83 respectively, the corresponding parameters of butanol fermentation were 2.19 g/L, 0.61 g/L/h, 28.03 g/L, 58.56 g/m²/h, 10.62. Profiles of fermentation and pervaporation parameters indicated that the intensity and efficiency of ethanol fermentation was higher than butanol fermentation, but the stability and adaptability of butanol fermentation was superior to ethanol fermentation. Although the two fermentation processes had different features, the performance still indicated the application prospect of the ethanol and butanol production by the CCCF system.