生物燃料

Abstract(#br)Butanol has potential to become an important renewable transportation fuel and feedstock chemical in the future. However, low yield and high separation costs are the main obstacles in feasible industrial scale biobutanol production by the acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation process. Both problems can be overcome by using pervaporation as the product removal technique. The performance of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane with a support layer of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was studied for the removal of acetone, butanol and ethanol from dilute aqueous model solutions.

Abstract(#br)Batch-wise butanol removal using vacuum pervaporation (VPV) was investigated to assess its technical feasibility for future integration with a continuous PBE (1,3-propanediol-butanol-ethanol) fermentation process using glycerol as feedstock. Two commercial polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane configurations were characterized using binary model solutions and authentic fermentation broths, while varying feed temperature, butanol concentration and flow rate.

Abstract(#br)In this study, rapid and direct Raman analysis of microalgae was demonstrated through measurement of algal cells (or algal paste) prepared by microwell-assisted filtration using an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane. To obtain the algal paste, an array of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microwells with through holes was placed on top of the AAO membrane, after which a vacuum was initiated and a droplet of algal solution dispensed inside the PDMS microwells for a 5-min filtration process.