For the transportation sector, liquid fuels, and liquid biofuels, are one of the paths toward much lower net CO2 emissions from energy production. So this advance in production efficiency could be really useful.
Bio-butanol production doubled by new process
Here's the meat:
In the study, funded by the Energy Biosciences Institute, Feng's team successfully tested the use of a non-ionic surfactant, or co-polymer, to create small structures that capture and hold the butanol molecules.
"This keeps the amount of butanol in the fermentation broth low so it doesn't kill the organism and we can continue to produce it," he said.
This process, called extractive fermentation, increases the amount of butanol produced during fermentation by 100 percent or more.
But that's only the beginning. Feng's group then makes use of one of the polymer's properties-its sensitivity to temperature. When the fermentation process is finished, the scientists heat the solution until a cloud appears and two layers form.
"We use a process called cloud point separation," he said. "Two phases form, with the second facing the polymer-rich phase. When we remove the second phase, we can recover the butanol, achieving a three- to fourfold reduction in energy use there because we don't have to remove as much water as in traditional fermentation."
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