Abstract:

Butanol fermentation by Clostridium beijerinckii integrated with in situ pervaporation using a
polydimethylsiloxane-polyvinylidene fluoride (PDMS-PVDF) composite membrane was carried out. The results showed
that the original glucose concentration was increased to 90 g/L for butanol fermentation integrated with pervaporation, as
compared to that (50 g/L) for the batch fermentation, and the glucose utilization was increased to 95.7% as compared to that
(59.4%) for batch fermentation. Meanwhile, butanol concentration was increased from 13.2 to 16.9 g/L, and the total amount
of solvents (acetone-butanol-ethanol, ABE) was increased from 17.8 g/L to 24.3 g/L based on the original glucose of 90 g/L.
In addition, the average total flux was 705 g/(m2·h) and separation factor of butanol was 19.0 during the butanol separation
process. The concentrations of butanol and total solvents were 178 and 292 g/L in the permeates, which were increased by
11.9 and 15.1 folds, respectively, as compared to those for batch fermentation.

Key words: butanol, pervaporation, in situ separation, Clostridium beijerinckii, fermentation