Within this study, an enzymatic hydrolysis process using α-cellulosic feedstock was<br />
performed in a specially designed plug-flow reactor, referred to as an Oscillatory Flow<br />
Bioreactor (OFB). The aims of this approach were to achieve intensification in terms of<br />
realising a more energy- and resource-efficient enzymatic hydrolysis, as well as to set the<br />
basis for continuous processes in such a reactor. The OFB performance was evaluated for<br />
high solid loadings of up to 15 %, and compared to the performance of a Stirred Tank Reactor (STR). Experimental results of the OFB operating at an oscillation frequency of<br />
2 Hz and an oscillation amplitude of 10 mm exhibit better conversion efficiencies (+ 6.7 %)<br />
than the STR after 24 h, while requiring only 7 % of the STR power density (W m–3). Therefore, the OFB enables efficient, uniform mixing at lower power densities than STRs for applications with high solid loadings.
In this work a novel reactor is evaluated on its potential to intensify biobased processing via a novel potentially continuous enzymatic hydrolysis process. An oscillatory flow bioreactor is applied in batch and recirculating mode, the latter mimicking the flow pattern of a continuous process. The recirculating mode operation can intensify cellulose conversion to hydrolyzed sugar liquid significantly, namely with enabling high solid processing and reaching >10% higher cellulose conversion than the respective operation in batch mode. Resulting sugar concentrations reach >90 mg/mL with the potential to enable the elimination of further concentration steps in down-stream processing, having a positive impact on the overall efficiency and sustainability of further processing steps to biofuels or biochemicals. K E Y W O R D S enzymatic hydrolysis, continuous processing, oscillatory flow
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