Elimination of ethanol inhibition by perstraction

Abstract

Perstraction (membrane-aided solvent extraction) was utilized for elimination of ethanol inhibition in continuous ethanol fermentation using high sugar concentrate. Hollow fibers for an artificial kidney were used as a permeable membrane, and their capacity to extract ethanol was examined by using several organic solvents. When tri-n-butylphosphate was used as an extractant, a 500 g/L feed glucose medium was successfully fermented by immobilized yeast cells. During this continuous fermentation a high ethanol productivity of 48 g/hxL-gel was held, and the solvent requirement per consumed glucose was 6 L-solvent/kg-glucose.