Modelling of end-product inhibition in fermentation

Microbial conversions are generally inhibited by their products. This product inhibition is particularly dependent on the product's hydrophobicity and on its acid dissociation behaviour, hence on pH. Dependence on the microbial strain is relatively modest according to many published data. Since product inhibition has various mechanistic...

Membrane bioreactors for syngas permeation and fermentation

Syngas fermentation to biofuels and chemicals is an emerging technology in the biobased economy. Mass transfer is usually limiting the syngas fermentation rate, due to the low aqueous solubilities of the gaseous substrates. Membrane bioreactors, as efficient gas–liquid contactors, are a promising configuration for overcoming this gas-to...

Downstream of the bioreactor: advancements in recovering fuels and commodity chemicals

Downstream processing aims at recovering the target product at the required specifications from the bioreactor effluent. Research and development in this field relies on experimental and mathematical tools at the levels of chemical components, unit operations and processes. Recently, advances have been made in addressing the broth mixture...

Grand Research Challenges for Sustainable Industrial Biotechnology

Future manufacturing will focus on new, improved products as well as on new and enhanced production methods. Recent biotechnological and scientific advances, such as CRISPR/Cas and various omic technologies, pave the way to exciting novel biotechnological research, development, and commercialization of new sustainable products. Rigorous...