Balancing the Ethanol Formation in Continuous Bioreactors with Ethanol Stripping

Ethanol microbially produced in continuously operated aerated bioreactors is partly discharged with the liquid flow and is partly stripped off with the gas phase. The calculation of ethanol formation rates – as required, for example, in data evaluation by Metabolic Flux Analysis – solely based on the liquid‐borne ethanol, while neglecting the ethanol stripping, inevitably results in defective data interpretation. The proportion of stripped ethanol can be measured or, alternatively, calculated. The developed structured model describes the ethanol stripping as a two‐step process while differentiating between the phase transition from the liquid into the gas and the discharge of the evaporated ethanol with the off‐gas. As shown by model analysis as well as stripping experiments, the stripping rate is mainly determined by the ethanol discharge rather than by the phase transition. Consequently, the ethanol‐stripping rate depends on the specific gas flow rate and the partition coefficient for ethanol (at 30 °C, K L/G = 3125 L/L), but not on the mass transfer coefficient. As shown by model simulations, the lower the dilution rate and the larger the gas flow rate of an aerated chemostat with a microbial ethanol formation, the higher the proportion of stripped ethanol. Under practically relevant conditions, more than 30 % of the produced ethanol may be stripped off. Exhaust‐gas coolers, actually used to reduce water losses by evaporation, do not prevent but slightly affect ethanol stripping.