Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Chemical and Material Engineering

Subject(s)

Anaerobic bacteria, Biodiesel fuels, Biomass energy

Abstract

Butanol is of particular interest as a renewable biofuel. This research investigated the butanol extraction by converting purified glycerol into butanol using C. pasteurianum. The effects of three organic extractive reagents were studied to assess their use in extractive fermentation of butanol. High toxicity was shown by octanol, inhibiting cell growth. Oleyl alcohol not only appeared to be non-toxic but also yielded high butanol concentrations. Methyl oleate seemed to be corrosive to the flasks used in the fermentation process. The maximum butanol yield produced using oleyl alcohol as extractive solvent was 0.436 g/g; this value was higher than any other seen in previous studies using C. pasteurianum. Therefore, oleyl alcohol can be considered a useful extracting solvent in anaerobic fermentations of purified glycerol into butanol byClostridium pasteurianum ATCC 6013TM.

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