Use of Pervaporation-Bioreactor Hybrid Processes in Biotechnology

Abstract

Pervaporation is a membrane separation process with considerable innovative possibilities in the area of biotechnology. Above all, the combination of bioreactor and pervaporation has potential in the longer term as an alternative to conventional batch processes. The authors present a comparison of various processes with conventional technology and review the current possibilities to improve the short‐comings of membrane separation processes.

Molecular design of the morphology and pore size of PVDF hollow fiber membranes for ethanol–water separation employing the modified pore-flow concept

“…In terms of energy efficiency, pervaporation is able to compete with a standard distillation, especially in a cellulosic ethanol process (and/or other non-food biomass) in which the ethanol content in broths is relatively low. In addition, the unique advantage of pervaporation includes the potential to be integrated with the existing processes [17][18][19][20][21][22]. In the recent work by Ding et al [22], integrating membrane pervaporation with a fermentor resulted in the improvement of ethanol productivity in addition to the benefits of saving energy and having less contaminant products.…”

Capillary supported ultrathin homogeneous silicalite-poly(dimethylsiloxane) nanocomposite membrane for bio-butanol recovery

“…From an energy requirement perspective, pervaporation is considered to be one of the most attractive options [4]. Moreover, membrane pervaporation can be effectively integrated with bioreactor to realize continuous fermentation, which has attracted remarkable interests in the field of biotechnology [5]. * Corresponding author.…”

The Study on Pervaporation Behaviors of Dilute Organic Solution Through PDMS/PTFE Composite Membrane

“…Among these combinations, PV-distillation and PVreaction hybrid processes are already applied in industrial practices [2]. PV applications in bio-process are also reported [3], such as PV-fermentation, which utilize PV to remove main fermentation reaction products or by-products. Cho and Hwang [4] studied the integration of continuous fermentation and membrane separation, increased ethanol productivity by 10-20%.…”