High-resolution computation predicts that low dissolved CO concentrations and CO gradients promote ethanol production at industrial-scale gas fermentation

Gradients in dissolved gas concentrations are expected to affect the performance of large reactors for anaerobic gas (CO, H2, CO2) fermentation. To study how these gradients, and the dissolved gas concentration level itself, influence the productivity of the desired product ethanol and the product spectrum of C. autoethanogenum, we coupled a CFD...

Alleviating mass transfer limitations in industrial external-loop syngas-to-ethanol fermentation

Mass transfer limitations in syngas fermentation processes are mostly attributed to poor solubility of CO and H₂ in water. Despite these assumed limitations, a syngas fermentation process has recently been commercialized. Using large-sale external-loop gas-lift reactors (EL-GLR), CO-rich off-gases are converted into ethanol, with...

Computational fluid dynamics simulation of an industrial P. chrysogenum fermentation with a coupled 9-pool metabolic model: Towards rational scale-down and design optimization

We assess the effect of substrate heterogeneity on the metabolic response of P. chrysogenum in industrial bioreactors via the coupling of a 9-pool metabolic model with Euler-Lagrange CFD simulations. In this work, we outline how this coupled hydrodynamic-metabolic modeling can be utilized in 5 steps. (1) A model response study with a fixed...