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U.S. Department of Energy
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Design and demonstration of an immobilized-cell fluidized-bed reactor for the efficient production of ethanol

Conference ·
OSTI ID:150441
; ;  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); and others
Initial studies have been carried out on the scale-up of a medium-scale (2-5 m tall with a 10.2-cm id), fluidized-bed reactor (FBR) designed for fuel ethanol fermentation using immobilized Zymomonas mobilis. These results suggest that further improvements in ethanol productivity along with good operability may be possible when compared with previous results at the bench scale (40-110 g ethanol/L/h) and present industrial reactors (2-10 g ethanol/L/h). On-line and off-line measurement and control systems are also described. Z. mobilis was immobilized in carrageenan at cell loading of approx 60 g (dry wt)/L of biocatalyst. The system is designed for determining optimal operating conditions for achieving high conversion and productivity with variations in feedstocks, temperature, flow rate, and column sizes.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
150441
Report Number(s):
CONF-940526--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English