Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Ethanol from whey: continuous fermentation with cell recycle

Journal Article · · Biotechnol. Bioeng.; (United States)

The production of ethanol from cheese whey lactose has been demonstrated using a single-stage continuous culture fermentation with 100% cell recycle. In a two-step process, an aerobic fed batch operation was used initially to allow biomass buildup in the absence of inhibitory ethanol concentrations. In the anaerobic ethanol-producing second step, a strain of Kluyveromyces fragilis selected on the basis of batch fermentation data had a maximum productivity of 7.1 g ethanol/L/h at a dilution rate of 0.15 h/sup -1/, while achieving the goal of zero residual sugar concentration. The fermentation productivity diminished when the feed sugar concentration exceeded 120 g/L despite the inclusion of a lipid mixture previous shown to enhance batch fermentation productivities.

Research Organization:
Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, Colorado
OSTI ID:
7035440
Journal Information:
Biotechnol. Bioeng.; (United States), Journal Name: Biotechnol. Bioeng.; (United States) Vol. 26:1; ISSN BIBIA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English