The economics of a bioprocess are generally driven by the expense of the downstream separation of product from dilute aqueous streams. Continuous separation techniques, such as <i>in situ </i>product recovery (ISPR), are attractive in that they can simultaneously remove and concentrate products from bioreactors, thereby minimizing product inhibition and downstream separation cost. Although there are multiple benefits of ISPR, there are few reports on how to integrate these systems with further downstream processes to recover highly pure product, which is essential for many applications, such as polymer and commodity chemical production. This seminar will cover a liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) based ISPR system integrated with downstream distillation that our group has developed to effectively purify carboxylic acids from dilute aqueous fermentation broth. Discussion will focus on experimental results including measured equilibrium constants of various extractants, a mathematical model describing extraction physics, and an ASPENplus process simulation. The combined work provides a framework that can be used to predict energy input requirements and critical fermentation targets such as pH and titer that must be met in order for this ISPR system to be viable. Overall, our LLE based ISPR system integrated with distillation may provide an approach to 1) enable industrial deployment of new bioprocesses by decreasing industrially targets for titers and 2) process intensification of existing industrial operations via decreased separation costs and increased productivities.

Design and integration of in situ liquid liquid extraction systems for bioacid production

255th National Meeting (2018)

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