Butanol production using Clostridium beijerinckii BA101 hyper-butanol producing mutant strain and recovery by pervaporation

Clostridium beijerinckii BA101 (mutant strain) and C. beijerinckii 8052 (wi ld type) were compared for substrate and butanol inhibition. The wild-type strain is more strongly inhibited by added butanol than is the mutant strai n. Acetone and butanol were removed from a fed-batch reactor inoculated wit h C. beijerinckii BA101 by pervaporation using a silicone membrane. In the batch reactor, C. beijerinckii BA101 produced 25.3 g/L of total solvents, w hereas in the fermentation-recovery experiment it produced 165.1 g/L of tot al solvents. Solvent productivity increased from 0.35 (batch reactor) to 0. 98 g/L.h (fed-batch reactor). The fed-batch reactor was fed with 500 g/L of glucose-based P2 medium. Acetone selectivities ranged from 2 to 10 whereas butanol selectivities ranged from 7 to 19. Total flux varied from 26 to 31 g/m(2).h.