Performance evaluation for Bioethanol production in three reactors: Batch, packed bed and Fluidized bed bio-reactors

Abstract

Ethanol demand has continued to grow, both as an alternative fuel and as a petroleum fuel extender because of gasoline shortages. Ethanol production from renewable carbohydrate materials has attracted worldwide interest, and much research has focused on ethanol production using immobilized viable microbial cells in continuous systems. Biochemical pathway, the main reactor used for fermentation is classical well-mixed reactor need to be improved to the continuous reactor to reduce the operation cost, product inhibition and wash out. Immobilized biomass (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) activity has been given more attention, since it has been acknowledged to play a significant role in bioreactor performance. An attempt has been made to compare the production of bioethanol in batch, packed, fluidized bed bio-reactors. Present study, focused mainly sodium alginate (2% to 6%) as micro-organism support for production of bio-ethanol in all three reactors and find the better reactor and better concentration of sodium alginate for immobilization of yeast.