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Simultaneous clostridial fermentation, lipase‐catalyzed esterification, and ester extraction to enrich diesel with butyl butyrate
Author(s) -
van den Berg Corjan,
Heeres Arjan S.,
van der Wielen Luuk A. M.,
Straathof Adrie J. J.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.24618
Subject(s) - chemistry , butanol , fermentation , butyrate , hexadecane , downstream processing , product inhibition , lipase , chromatography , ethyl butyrate , extraction (chemistry) , partition coefficient , organic chemistry , diesel fuel , enzyme , ethanol , non competitive inhibition , ethyl acetate
The recovery of 1‐butanol from fermentation broth is energy‐intensive since typical concentrations in fermentation broth are below 20 g L −1 . To prevent butanol inhibition and high downstream processing costs, we aimed at producing butyl esters instead of 1‐butanol. It is shown that it is possible to perform simultaneously clostridial fermentation, esterification of the formed butanol to butyl butyrate, and extraction of this ester by hexadecane. The very high partition coefficient of butyl butyrate pulls the esterification towards the product side even at fermentation pH and relatively low butanol concentrations. The hexadecane extractant is a model diesel compound and is nontoxic to the cells. If butyl butyrate enriched diesel can directly be used as car fuel, no product recovery is required. A proof‐of‐principle experiment for the one‐pot bio‐ester production from glucose led to 5 g L −1 butyl butyrate in the hexadecane phase. The principle may be extended to a wide range of esters, especially to longer chain ones. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 137–142. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.