Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Adsorptive separations for the recovery and purification of biobutanol

  • Published:
Adsorption Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A conceptual adsorption process for the recovery and purification of biobutanol is proposed. Different porous materials are tested on their ability to perform the adsorptive separations relevant to the process. The metal-organic framework ZIF-8, silicalite zeolite and active carbon were compared with respect to their adsorption capacity of 1-butanol dissolved in water, as obtained in static and dynamic conditions by respectively batch and breakthrough measurements at room temperature. Batch experimentation showed that other compounds present in a real ABE fermentation have no significant effect on the adsorption of 1-butanol on ZIF-8. The breakthrough separation of 1-butanol from an aqueous ABE mixture was performed with a ZIF-8 packed column. The desorption of 1-butanol from a saturated ZIF-8 packed column by a stepwise increase of the temperature to 423 K in combination with a purge of a nitrogen gas (60 ml/min) shows that 1-butanol desorbs at low temperature from ZIF-8. Adsorption isotherms of ethanol, 1-butanol and water in liquid phase on the zeolite SAPO-34 were determined by batch adsorption at 298 K. Also the separation of an ethanol/1-butanol mixture and the removal of ethanol from 1-butanol could be achieved with a SAPO-34 packed column. From this experimental work, two materials—ZIF-8 and SAPO-34—thus emerged as suitable adsorbents for the recovery and purification of biobutanol by adsorption.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

C 0,i :

initial concentration of component i (wt%)

C eq,i :

equilibrium concentration of component i (wt%)

C in,i :

concentration of component i at the inlet (g/ml)

L :

length of column (cm)

m ads :

adsorbent mass after activation (g)

m vl,o :

total mass of external liquid phase before adsorption (g)

q i :

amount adsorbed of component i by the adsorbent column (g/g)

x i,0 :

fraction of component i at time 0

x i,t :

fraction of component i at time t

v :

interstitial velocity (cm/s)

ε :

bed porosity

ϑ :

micropore volume (ml/g)

ρ i :

density of component i (g/ml)

ρ p :

adsorbent particle density (g/ml)

τ i :

average breakthrough time of component i (s)

References

  • Antoni, D., Zverlov, V.V., Schwarz, W.H.: Biofuels from microbes. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 77, 23–25 (2007). doi:10.1007/s00253-007-1163-x

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, T.C., Vane, L.M.: Ethanol, acetic acid, and water adsorption from binary and ternary liquid mixtures on high-silica zeolites. Langmuir 22, 3721–3727 (2006). doi:10.1021/la052538u

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Daems, I., Leflaive, P., Methivier, A.: A study of packing induced selectivity effects in the liquid phase adsorption of alkane/alkene mixtures on NaY. Microporous Mesoporous Mater. 82, 191–199 (2005)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Daems, I., Singh, R., Baron, G., Denayer, J.: Length exclusion in the adsorption of chain molecules on chabazite type zeolites. Chem. Commun. 1316–1318 (2007). doi:10.1039/b615661d

  • Denayer, J.F., Ocakoglu, A.R., Huybrechts, W.: Pore mouth versus intracrystalline adsorption of isoalkanes on ZSM-22 and ZSM-23 zeolites under vapour and liquid phase conditions. Chem. Commun. 15, 1880–1881 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duerinck, T., Leflaive, P., Martin, P., Pirngruber, G.D., Denayer, J.F.M.: A high-throughput methodology for liquid phase adsorption experimentation. Adsorption 17, 347–359 (2011). doi:10.1007/s10450-011-9338-2

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia, V., Päkkilä, J., Ojamo, H., Muurinen, E., Keiski, R.L.: Challenges in biobutanol production: how to improve the efficiency? Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 15, 964–980 (2011). doi:10.1016/j.rser.2010.11.008

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Groot, W.J., Luyben, K.C.A.M.: In situ product recovery by adsorption in the butanol/isopropanol batch fermentation. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 25, 29–31 (1986)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Z., Ying, Y., Li, F., Ma, C., Xu, P.: Butanol production by clostridium Beijerinckii ATCC 55025 from wheat bran. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotech. 37, 495–501 (2010). doi:10.1007/s10295-010-0695-8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maddox, I.S.: Use of silicalite for the adsorption of n-butanol from fermentation liquors. Biotechnol. Lett. 4, 759–760 (1982)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Malek, A., Farooq, S.: Effect of velocity variation on equilibrium calculations from multicomponent breakthrough experiments. Chem. Eng. Sci. 52, 443–447 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Milestone, N.B., Bibby, D.M.: Concentration of alcohols by adsorption on silicalite. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 31, 732–736 (1981)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, D.R., Prather, K.J.: In situ product recovery of n-butanol from polymeric resins. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 102, 811–821 (2008). doi:10.1002/bit.22109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, L., Larsson, M., Holst, O., Mattiasson, B.: Adsorbents for extractive bioconversion applied to the acetone-butanol fermentation. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 28, 335–339 (1988)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oudshoorn, A., van der Wielen, L.A.M., Straathof, A.J.J.: Adsorption equilibria of bio-based butanol solutions using zeolite. Biochem. Eng. J. 48, 99–103 (2009a). doi:10.1016/j.bej.2009.08.014

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oudshoorn, A., van der Wielen, L.A.M., Straathof, A.J.J.: Assessment of options for selective 1-butanol recovery from aqueous solution. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 48, 7325–7336 (2009b)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Qureshi, N., Hughes, S., Maddox, I.S., Cotta, M.A.: Energy-efficient recovery of butanol from model solutions and fermentation broth by adsorption. Bioprocess Biosyst. Eng. 27, 215–222 (2005). doi:10.1007/s00449-005-0402-8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Regdon, I., Király, Z., Dékány, I., Lagaly, G.: Adsorption of 1-butanol from water on modified silicate surfaces. Colloid Polym. Sci. 272, 1129–1135 (1994)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Remy, T., Cousin Saint Remi, J., Singh, R., Webley, P.A., Baron, G.V., Denayer, J.F.M.: Adsorption and separation of C1–C8 alcohols on SAPO-34. J. Phys. Chem. C 115, 8117–8125 (2011). doi:10.1021/jp111615e

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saravanan, V., Waijers, D.A., Ziari, M., Noordermeer, M.A.: Recovery of 1-butanol from aqueous solutions using zeolite ZSM-5 with a high Si/Al ratio; suitability of a column process for industrial applications. Biochem. Eng. J. 49, 33–39 (2010). doi:10.1016/j.bej.2009.11.008

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, X., Tsao, G.T.: Enhanced acetone-butanol fermentation using repeated fed-batch operation coupled with cell recycle by membrane and simultaneous removal of inhibitory products by adsorption. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 47, 444–450 (1995)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

J. Cousin Saint Remi is grateful to the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT) for the financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    J. Cousin Saint Remi, G. Baron & J. Denayer

Authors
  1. J. Cousin Saint Remi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. G. Baron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. Denayer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Cousin Saint Remi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cousin Saint Remi, J., Baron, G. & Denayer, J. Adsorptive separations for the recovery and purification of biobutanol. Adsorption 18, 367–373 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-012-9415-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-012-9415-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation