(642e) Retaining and Quantifying Medium Chain Alcohols in Fermentation Broth | AIChE

(642e) Retaining and Quantifying Medium Chain Alcohols in Fermentation Broth

Authors 

Shiue, E. - Presenter, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Devarapalli, M. - Presenter, Oklahoma State University
Harris, M. - Presenter, Dow AgroSciences
Stowers, C. - Presenter, Dow AgroSciences

Primary alcohols such as 1-ethanol and 1-butanol can be produced through industrial fermentation processes using wild type microorganism strains.  Today’s recombinant DNA technology provides an opportunity for the production of longer chain primary alcohols through fermentation.  Traditionally, the short chain alcohols, 1-ethanol and 1-butanol which have good solubility in fermentation broth, accumulate in the fermentation broth and can be recovered though distillation.  However primary alcohols of longer chain length have deceasing solubility in water.  Additionally, below their solubility limit, primary alcohols of increasing chain length have increasing vapor pressures, despite the opposite trend for pure primary alcohols.  The increased volatility hinders quantification of alcohol titers in traditional aerobic fermentation systems, leading to difficulties in optimizing strains and fermentation conditions.  This work evaluates various solutions to retain medium chain primary alcohols (1-pentanol to 1-octanol) in shake flasks, serum bottles and sparged bioreactors.  The results and impacts of applying the solutions to actively producing cultures is presented.