Conversion of Syngas from Entrained Flow Gasification of Biogenic Residues with <i>Clostridium carboxidivorans</i> and <i>Clostridium autoethanogenum</i>

oleh: Anton Rückel, Anne Oppelt, Philipp Leuter, Philipp Johne, Sebastian Fendt, Dirk Weuster-Botz

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-09-01

Deskripsi

Synthesis gas fermentation is a microbial process, which uses anaerobic bacteria to convert CO-rich gases to organic acids and alcohols and thus presents a promising technology for the sustainable production of fuels and platform chemicals from renewable sources. <i>Clostridium carboxidivorans</i> and <i>Clostridium autoethanogenum</i> are two acetogenic bacteria, which have shown their high potential for these processes by their high tolerance toward CO and in the production of industrially relevant products such as ethanol, 1-butanol, 1-hexanol, and 2,3-butanediol. A promising approach is the coupling of gasification of biogenic residues with a syngas fermentation process. This study investigated batch processes with <i>C. carboxidivorans</i> and <i>C. autoethanogenum</i> in fully controlled stirred-tank bioreactors and continuous gassing with biogenic syngas produced by an autothermal entrained flow gasifier on a pilot scale >1200 °C. They were then compared to the results of artificial gas mixtures of pure gases. Because the biogenic syngas contained 2459 ppm O<sub>2</sub> from the bottling process after gasification of torrefied wood and subsequent syngas cleaning for reducing CH<sub>4</sub>, NH<sub>3</sub>, H<sub>2</sub>S, NO<sub>X</sub>, and HCN concentrations, the oxygen in the syngas was reduced to 259 ppm O<sub>2</sub> with a Pd catalyst before entering the bioreactor. The batch process performance of <i>C. carboxidivorans</i> in a stirred-tank bioreactor with continuous gassing of purified biogenic syngas was identical to an artificial syngas mixture of the pure gases CO, CO<sub>2</sub>, H<sub>2</sub>, and N<sub>2</sub> within the estimation error. The alcohol production by <i>C. autoethanogenum</i> was even improved with the purified biogenic syngas compared to reference batch processes with the corresponding artificial syngas mixture. Both acetogens have proven their potential for successful fermentation processes with biogenic syngas, but full carbon conversion to ethanol is challenging with the investigated biogenic syngas.