Production of acetone-butanol-ethanol from concentrated substrates using Clostridium acetobutylicum in an integrated fermentation-product removal process

Salt concentrations in the range 30–45 g/litre are completely inhibitory to the growth of Clostridium acetobutylicum. At lower concentrations, growth occurs but the fermentation shifts from being solventogenic to being acidogenic. In contrast, sugar concentrations of up to 180 g/litre can be fermented without any observable inhibitory effects. To avoid product inhibition, and thus allow complete utilization of the sugar, product removal by gas stripping has been integrated with the fermentation process. In this way, a solution containing lactose at 200 g/litre has been complete fermented to a mixture of acetone-butanol-ethanol at 70 g/litre.