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Performance analysis of a continuous bioreactor for ethanol and acetate synthesis from syngas via Clostridium ljungdahlii using exergy concept

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Abstract

In this paper, the exergetic performance of a continuous bioreactor for ethanol and acetate synthesis from syngas via a strictly anaerobic autotrophic bacterium Clostridium ljungdahlii was carried out for the first time. The fermentation process was evaluated using both conventional exergy and eco-exergy principles for measuring the productivity and renewability of the process at various liquid media flow rates. The microorganisms successfully upgraded the syngas into invaluable ethanol and acetate through the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway. The exergy efficiency was found to be in the range of 6.5–77.5 and 6.8–77.5 % during the fermentation using conventional exergy and eco-exergy concepts, respectively. The subtle differences observed in the exergetic parameters using the two exergetic concepts were ascribed to the slow growth rate of the microorganisms. Nevertheless, the eco-exergy concept would strongly be recommended for commercial bioreactor containing living organisms due to the inclusion of the information carried by microorganisms in the exergetic calculation. A desired liquid media flow rate of 0.55 mL/min was found according to a newly defined thermodynamic indictor namely exergetic productivity index. More specifically, the maximum exergetic productivity index of the fermentation process was found to be 8.0 using both approaches when the rate of inflow liquid was adjusted at the optimal value. The results of this study revealed that process yield alone cannot be a reliable performance metric for decision making on the productivity of various biofuel production pathways. Finally, the proposed exergetic framework could assist engineers and researchers to link biochemical and physical knowledge more robustly and to quantify and elucidate the general purpose of productivity and renewability.

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Abbreviations

C :

Specific heat (kJ/kg K)

D:

Impeller diameter (m)

ex:

Specific exergy (kJ/kg)

Ex:

Exergy (kJ)

\({\dot{\text{E}}\text{x}}\) :

Exergy rate (kJ/s)

G :

Gibbs function for the reaction

m :

Mass (kg)

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

M :

Molecular mass (kg/mol)

n :

Mole number (−)

\(\dot{n}\) :

Mole rate (mol/s)

N :

Impeller speed (rpm)

NN:

Number of nucleotides (−)

NRG:

Number of repeating genes (−)

\({\mathbb{N}}\) :

Power number (−)

P :

Pressure (kPa)

R :

Gas constant (8.314 J/(mol K))

Re:

Reynolds number (−)

SI:

Exergetic sustainability index

T :

Temperature (K)

x :

Mole fraction (−)

X :

Mass fraction (−)

W :

Mechanical work (kW)

ε :

Standard chemical exergy (kJ/mol)

β :

Eco-exergy to the chemical exergy ratio

ρ :

Fluid density (kg/m3)

μ :

Fluid viscosity (Pa s)

ψ :

Rational exergy efficiency

Ψ :

Exergetic productivity index

0:

Dead state

Ace:

Acetate

CM:

Culture media

des:

Destruction

EthOH:

Ethanol

in:

Inlet

i, j, k, l, m, n :

Numerators

LM:

Liquid media

Out:

Outlet

P :

Product

R :

Reactant

SG:

Syngas

t :

Time

W :

Work

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank University of Tehran and Biofuel Research Team (BRTeam) for financially supporting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering of Agricultural Machinery, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

    Mortaza Aghbashlo & Seyed Sina Hosseini

  2. Microbial Biotechnology and Biosafety Department, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII), P.O. Box: 31535-1897, Karaj, Iran

    Meisam Tabatabaei

  3. Biofuel Research Team (BRTeam), Karaj, Iran

    Meisam Tabatabaei

  4. Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Nour, Mazandaran, Iran

    Habibollah Younesi

  5. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran

    Ghasem Najafpour

Authors
  1. Mortaza Aghbashlo
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  2. Meisam Tabatabaei
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  3. Seyed Sina Hosseini
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  4. Habibollah Younesi
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  5. Ghasem Najafpour
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Correspondence to Mortaza Aghbashlo or Meisam Tabatabaei.

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Aghbashlo, M., Tabatabaei, M., Hosseini, S.S. et al. Performance analysis of a continuous bioreactor for ethanol and acetate synthesis from syngas via Clostridium ljungdahlii using exergy concept. Clean Techn Environ Policy 18, 853–865 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-015-1061-3

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