Intensive Production of Carboxylic Acids Using C. butyricum in a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)
Husnul Azan Tajarudin,
Myrto-Panagiota Zacharof,
Karnika Ratanapongleka,
Paul M. Williams,
Robert W. Lovitt
Affiliations
Husnul Azan Tajarudin
School of Industrial Technology, Division of Bioprocesses, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia
Myrto-Panagiota Zacharof
Centre for Cytochrome P450 Biodiversity, Institute of Life Science, Swansea University Medical School, Swansea, Wales SA2 8PP, UK
Karnika Ratanapongleka
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ubon Ratchathani University, Ubon Ratchathani 34190, Thailand
Paul M. Williams
Centre for Water Advanced Technologies and Environmental Research (CWATER), College of Engineering, Talbot building, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
Robert W. Lovitt
Membranology Ltd. c/o Broomfield & Alexander Li Charter Court Phoenix Way, Swansea SA7 9FS, UK
This work reports on the use of a bench-scale chemostat (CSTR) in continuous mode and of a pilot-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) in fed-batch mode to intensively produce acetic and butyric acids using C. butyricum grown on synthetic media. These studies were then used to perform a cost estimation study of the MBR system to assess the potential economic impact of this proposed methodology, regarding the production of carboxylic acids. The MBR system was found to be highly productive, reaching 37.88 g L−1 h−1 of acetic and 14.44 g L−1 h−1 of volumetric cell productivity, favoring acetic acid production over butyric acid at a ratio of 3 moles to 1. The cost of preparation and production of carboxylic acid using this system was found to be 0.0062 £PS/kg with up to 99% carbon recovery.
