Present state and perspective of downstream processing of biologically produced 1,3-propanediol and 2,3-butanediol

Abstract

1,3-Propanediol and 2,3-butanediol are two promising chemicals which have a wide range of applications and can be biologically produced. The separation of these diols from fermentation broth makes more than 50% of the total costs in their microbial production. This review summarizes the present state of methods studied for the recovery and purification of biologically produced diols, with particular emphasis on 1,3-propoanediol. Previous studies on the separation of 1,3-propanediol primarily include evaporation, distillation, membrane filtration, pervaporation, ion exchange chromatography, liquid-liquid extraction, and reactive extraction. Main methods for the recovery of 2,3-butanediol include steam stripping, pervaporation, and solvent extraction. No single method has proved to be simple and efficient, and improvements are especially needed with regard to yield, purity, and energy consumption. Perspectives for an improved downstream processing of biologically produced diols, especially 1,3-propanediol are discussed based on our own experience and recent work. It is argued that separation technologies such as aqueous two-phase extraction with short chain alcohols, pervaporation, reverse osmosis, and in situ extractive or pervaporative fermentations deserve more attention in the future.

Reactive Extraction of 1,3-Propanediol with Aldehydes in the Presence of a Hydrophobic Acidic Ionic Liquid as a Catalyst

“…Recently, 1,3-propanediol has attracted attention as an important monomer of poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), because of several unique properties of PTT for the production of fibers [1][2][3].…”

“…The cost of its separation is reported to be up to 50-70% of the production cost [1]. The development of an efficient and economic recovery process is desired to improve the economics of the production process based on a biomass route.…”

“…Compared with other separation techniques, extraction is considered to possess several advantages, such as large throughput and low energy consumption. Solvent extraction with water-immiscible organic solvents (physical extraction), such as ethyl acetate produce low separation efficiencies due to the limitation of the solubility of 1,3-propanediol [1]. An alternative way of physical extraction is to use an aqueous two-phase extraction system, which has been widely applied in the separation of bio-molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids because of its simplicity, low energy consumption, and easy scale up [28].…”

Extraction of 2,3-Butanediol with Aqueous Two-Phase Systems Formed by Water-Miscible Organic Solvents and Inorganic Salts

“…Due to the high boiling point (183-4ºC) and high hydrophilicity of 2,3-BD, recovery from fermentation broths becomes a vital factor for the industrial production of 2,3-BD. The cost of the separation process using distillation techniques for 2,3-BD is reported to be more than half of the production cost [3]. The -181 -development of an efficient and economic recovery process is required to improve the economics of the production process based on the biomass route.…”

“…The -181 -development of an efficient and economic recovery process is required to improve the economics of the production process based on the biomass route. Steam stripping, extraction, pervaporation and vacuum distillation combined with alcohol precipitation have been proposed as separation methods [3,4]. Compared with other separation techniques, extraction is considered to posses several advantages, such as large throughput and low energy consumption.…”