This work demonstrated that consolidated bioprocessing is a promising concept for conversion of lignocellulose to ethanol at industrial scale. CBP offers great cost saving potential, is feasible to be operated continuously and may be scaled up due to extensive knowledge of the process from a chemical engineering point of view.Cost savings of up to 27.5% of the total costs compared to conventional bioethanol production from lignocellulose, as stated by a techno-economic assessment, make continuous CBP the strongest lever to reduce processing costs of lignocellulosic ethanol. A cost sensitivity analysis identified scale and yield as the main cost-pushers from a process point of view, whereas the price level of the plant location has the highest impact on the investment conditions.To prove the feasibility of continuous CBP, and therefore the mentioned cost savings, experiments with a maximum titer of 3.258±0.007 g/L, a productivity of 0.025 g/(Lh) and constant enzyme production over 750h were conducted. Furthermore, the continuous experiments showed that experiments with identical volumetric oxygen transfer rate k_L a, but different oxygen fluxes per membrane area, showed titer differences of ca. 80% (1.83 g/L vs 3.26 g/L) in favor of setups with the large membrane surface. A rigorous process model was developed for continuously operated CBP. 9 species were considered (oxygen, glucose, total concentration Trichoderma reesei, secondary mycelia concentration of T. reesei, enzymes, cellulose, cellobiose, yeast density and ethanol). 8 of these 9 species needed to be modelled spatially resolved to account properly for mass transfer limitations. The fungal biofilm thickness d_f was found to be a critical parameter with an optimum for every membrane configuration. Smaller d_f reduced the fungal biofilm volume and thus, the enzyme production and larger d_f increased the diffusion path length causing shortage in nutrient supply as well as lower enzyme concentrations in the bulk. The enzyme synthesis rate of the secondary mycelia was fitted by reducing it by ca. 40% (0.67 FPU/(mLd) vs 1.152 (FPU/(mL*d) compared to batch models.With the process model as centerpiece, a scale-up framework consisting of the model and a set of non-dimensional parameters was developed to scale CBP from 2.7L laboratory scale to 130L pilot scale. The majority of the non-dimensional parameters could be kept constant during scale-up as requested by the similarity paradigm. Necessary changes were simulated with the model. Again, the fungal biofilm thickness d_f proved to be a relevant parameter for scale-up considerations. In general, the relative loss of biofilm volume is compensated by longer residence times since the residence time has by far the least impact on the process economics.Finally, popular rate-controlled separation techniques were investigated regarding their potential with CBP, since they offer the potential to reduce yeast inhibition, to avoid separation limitations by the azeotrope and they are not bound to the vapor-liquid-equilibrium of highly diluted ethanol-water mixtures. However, most of the mechanisms fail to handle the solids of the fermentation broth. Pervaporation, being the most promising concept for in-situ product removal, would be a cost-saving alternative to distillation for batch operation, but is limited by an unfavorable vapor-liquid equilibrium due to low bulk concentrations during continuous operation.
EPFL2022
