Ethanol fermentation kinetics in a continuous and closed-circulating fermentation system with a pervaporation membrane bioreactor

Kinetic model of continuous ethanol fermentation in closed-circulating process with pervaporation membrane bioreactor by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

“…However, some secondary metabolites of S. cerevisiae not permeating through the membrane would be accumulated in the broth and could inhibit the yeast cell growth (Chen et al, 2012;Fan et al, 2014a,b). In order to develop a simple and validating kinetic model for the cell growth in the pervaporation membrane bioreactor, the following considerations were assumed: -The bioreactor behaved as a perfectly mixed reactor.…”

“…The thermostable alcohol-active dry yeast (ADY), S. cerevisiae, obtained from Angel Yeast Corporation (Hubei, China) was used in the study and the detailed composition of synthetic medium had been fully described in our previous work (Chen et al, 2012;Fan et al, 2014b).…”

“…These recent experiments have also revealed more process features of the CCCF process, directing us to the more comprehensive acquaintance with the process (Fan et al, 2014b). Among those features, the accumulated secondary metabolites in the broth and the cell death along with the fermentation have become two focuses of the CCCF process (Chen et al, 2012;Fan et al, 2014a). Based on the experimental evidences, it should be possible to develop the kinetic models to characterize mathematically the CCCF process.…”

“…However, in our earlier experiments, during long-term operation of CCCF process, the membrane pervaporation could only be coupled with fermentation in an intermittent mode because of the limitation of the operation and the complexity of the refrigerating unit. In this case the fermentation process was unsteady and its time course profiles with zigzag shape were shown (Chen et al, 2012;Ding et al, 2011). Therefore, it was hard to develop the kinetic models for CCCF process on the basis of those experiments with obvious oscillations.…”

“…In our previous works, the conception on a continuous and closed-circulating fermentation (CCCF) process was proposed, and a lot of experimental evidences have been disclosed (Chen et al, 2012;Ding et al, 2011Ding et al, , 2012. In this process, ethanol inhibition could be eliminated owing to simultaneous ethanol removal by the membrane pervaporation, so that long fermentation period could be maintained and then high amount of ethanol production could be accomplished.…”