Process for producing organic solvents such as butanol, acetone and in particular ethanol by fermentation

Abstract

Abstract The process for producing organic solvents, especially ethanol, by continuous fermentation of a sugar- or starch-containing aqueous medium in which ethanol is produced both by yeasts and by bacteria provides for removal of the ethanol from the process by means of two outflow streams of different composition. One stream (7) represents the permeate obtained by membrane filtration (2) and is substantially free of yeast and/or bacterial cells and solid particles, while the other stream (8) is removed as fermenter stream directly from the fermentation fluid and contains most of the insoluble substances and the product-forming biomass and is kept smaller than the permeate stream (7). A high active cell concentration of the producing microorganism is maintained, and a high productivity is achieved in a non-sterile process. <IMAGE>

Inventors

• 👤 Uwe Dr. Tegtmeier

Bibliographic Details