A mechanistic model for oil recovery in a region of high oil droplet concentration from multiphasic fermentations

A mechanistic model for oil recovery in a region of high oil droplet concentration from multiphasic fermentations

Sousa Pires da Costa Basto, R.M. (TU Delft BT/Bioprocess Engineering)
Casals Peralvarez, M. (TU Delft ChemE/Product and Process Engineering)
Mudde, R.F. (TU Delft Executive board; TU Delft ChemE/Transport Phenomena)
van der Wielen, L.A.M. (TU Delft BT/Bioprocess Engineering; Bernal Institute)
Cuellar Soares, M.C. (TU Delft BT/Bioprocess Engineering)

Executive board

2019

Multiphasic fermentations where an organic phase is spontaneously formed or when it is added for product removal are commonly used for production of valuable compounds. The turbulent conditions and the presence of surface-active compounds (SACs) during fermentation create a stable emulsion difficult to separate. A gas bubble/oil droplet separation method has been proposed to break such emulsion. In this paper, we propose a mathematical model to describe oil/bubble interaction in a region of high oil droplet concentration. Model validation was performed using a synthetic emulsion and an emulsion from a fermentation broth. By applying the optimal parameters predicted by the model, a 6- and 3-times oil recovery improvement was reached for the synthetic emulsion and the fermentation broth, respectively. In conclusion, the proposed mechanistic model allowed to improve oil recovery in the existing laboratory set-up, and can be used to optimize the separation and recovery method at large scale.

Aggregation
Emulsion
Modelling
Multiphasic fermentation
Oil recovery

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:fc0c0ebc-6c77-473b-bd4b-3a6e704da4fc

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cesx.2019.100033

2590-1400

Chemical Engineering Science: X, 3

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2019 R.M. Sousa Pires da Costa Basto, M. Casals Peralvarez, R.F. Mudde, L.A.M. van der Wielen, M.C. Cuellar Soares