Biobutanol: Butanol from Cellulosic Biomass

Robert Bakker, Ana LpezContreras, Pieternel Claassen, Jeroen Willemsen, Hetty vd Wal, Verena Eisner Claudia Raza*, Herman den Uil*, Jan Pels*, and Hans Reith*

Introduction
ABE (acetone, butanol, ethanol) fermentation has an industrial past, but competition with the petrochemical industry made it economically unattractive. Owing to new developments in biotechnology and higher oil prices there has been renewed interest in fermentative production of butanol, a platform chemical and alternative biofuel. High substrate costs and low volumetric productivity however remain significant bottlenecks that preclude the return of largescale application implementation of ABE fermentation. By using our combined experience in biomass pretreatment, anaerobic fermentation, separation technology and energy system design, we are developing new concepts for conversion of biomass into butanol. The ultimate goal is to design a new efficient and economically viable bioprocess for the conversion of lowcost cellulosic feedstocks into butanol.
Products (g/l)

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0
acetic ac. butanol

40 35
sugars (g/l)

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 150
ethanol

50
glucose

Time (h)

100
acetone xylose

butyric ac.

Batch fermentation of a mixed sugar ( glucose/xylose) substrate by C. beijerinckii

Objectives
Reduce substrate costs for ABE fermentation by using (ligno) cellulosic biomass feedstock Improve productivity of ABE by applying highcell density fermentation and innovative separation techniques Develop an efficient and sustainable conversion system for cellulosic biomass into butanol based on: o Integration of biomass pretreatment with fermentation o Inline butanol recovery from fermentation broth o Energy recovery of nonfermentable byproducts

Achievements to date
First lignocellulosic hydrolysates tested for fermentability to ABE Laboratory bioreactor for continuous fermentation and cell retention developed Preliminary system design completed for small and large scale fermentative production of ABE Life Cycle Analysis of biomasstobutanol initiated

Clostridium X meeting in 2008

As part of our ongoing programme in ABE fermentation, we will be hosting the tenth Clostridium Meeting in 2008 at Wageningen UR in the Netherlands. For more details please visit the conference website at www.clostridium10.org

Acknowledgment
This project is financially supported by a grant from the EOS LT (Energy Research Subsidy) programme of the Dutch government. This programme is managed by Senternovem.

Low cost, wet biomass (such as grass from maintained grasslands) are primarily composed of lignocellulose and are considered to have great potential as feedstock for fermentative production of biofuels

Biobased ProductsWageningen University & Research Centre P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands Tel +31 317 475029 Fax +31 317 475347 Email robert.bakker@wur.nl Internet www.biobasedproducts.nl

* ECNEnergy Research Centre of the Netherlands, Petten, the Netherlands