Global sensitivity analysis and meta-modeling of an ethanol production process
Author(s)
Type
Dissertation
Abstract
Traditional ethanol fermentation becomes inhibitory to microbial growth at ethanol concentrations that depend on the producer organism, leading to reduced ethanol productivity. Continuous ethanol removal from the fermenter could increase productivity and potentially reduce the cost of product recovery. In this work, continuous ethanol removal via in situ gas stripping in a stirred tank reactor has been investigated as a means of reducing growth inhibition and improving productivity. A dynamic mathematical model that couples ethanol fermentation with gas stripping has been developed. This has been linked to a flash separation model to represent the initial steps of product recovery. Global sensitivity analysis was used to reduce the number of uncertain parameters, the values of which were estimated with satisfactory accuracy using experimental data for ethanol production from a metabolically engineered strain of the thermophile Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius growing on cellobiose. Simulation results show that continuous ethanol fermentation with product removal by gas stripping is feasible, with the associated energy requirement, costs of gas compression and fermenter agitation being a function of the stripping gas flow rate. Finally, the conditions under which gas stripping is a practical product recovery method were established.
Version
Imperial Users only
Editor(s)
Sundmacher, K
Date Issued
2014-07-26
Date Awarded
2012
Citation
Chemical Engineering Science, 2014, 114, pp.114-127
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
114
End Page
127
Journal / Book Title
Chemical Engineering Science
Format Extent
3620102 bytes
Volume
114
Creator
Todri, Efti
Publisher Department
Department of Chemical Engineering
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Masters
Qualification Name
MSc
Course Name
MSc Advanced Chemical Engineering with Process Systems Engineering
Publication Status
Published