Biological production of ethanol from coal
Due to the abundant supply of coal in the United States, significant research efforts have occurred over the past 15 years concerning the conversion of coal to liquid fuels. Researchers at the University of Arkansas have concentrated on a biological approach to coal liquefaction, starting with coal-derived synthesis gas as the raw material. Synthesis gas, a mixture of CO, H[sub 2], CO[sub 2], CH[sub 4] and sulfur gases, is first produced using traditional gasification techniques. The CO, CO[sub 2] and H[sub 2] are then converted to ethanol using a bacterial culture of Clostridium 1jungdahlii. Ethanol is the desired product if the resultant product stream is to be used as a liquid fuel. However, under normal operating conditions, the wild strain'' produces acetate in favor of ethanol in conjunction with growth in a 20:1 molar ratio. Research was performed to determine the conditions necessary to maximize not only the ratio of ethanol to acetate, but also to maximize the concentration of ethanol resulting in the product stream.
- Research Organization:
- Arkansas Univ., Fayetteville, AR (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC22-89PC89876
- OSTI ID:
- 6518366
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/PC/89876-T18; ON: DE93014938
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Biological production of ethanol from coal
Biological production of ethanol from coal
Related Subjects
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
ETHANOL
CHEMICAL REACTION YIELD
SYNTHESIS GAS
BIOCONVERSION
ACETATES
BIOCHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
CULTURE MEDIA
METABOLISM
PROGRESS REPORT
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
ALCOHOLS
CARBOXYLIC ACID SALTS
DOCUMENT TYPES
FLUIDS
GASES
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
KINETICS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
REACTION KINETICS
YIELDS
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