Reference

Objectives

Main Results

[26]

Membrane technology for bio-ethanol production

-A highly selective and energy-saving separation process, with ~15% lower costs in comparison to the batch process.

[27]

Significant improvement of bio-ethanol recovery using a pervaporation (silicone rubber-coated membrane)

-The recovered ethanol concentration in the permeate was 67 wt%, and the amount of recovered ethanol from the broth was more than 10 times higher than when using a noncoated membrane.

[28]

Pervaporative separation of bio-ethanol using a polydimethylsiloxane/polyetherimide composite hollow-fiber membrane

-Possible but dependent on the feed concentration and operating temperature for ethanol concentrations of 1% - 10%;

-Relatively good pervaporation performance with a total flux of 231 - 252 g/m2h.

[29]

Enhanced bio-ethanol production by pervaporation using a PDMS membrane bioreactor

-Increase of cell density, decreasing ethanol inhibition, improved productivity and yield, and resumption of clean and concentrated ethanol;

-Ethanol productivity increased by 26.83% over conventional batch fermentation;

-Ethanol concentration in permeated side was 6 to 7 times higher than that of the broth.

[30]

Bio-ethanol recovery using the pervaporation separation technique

-Zeolite 13× filled CA membrane has the better pervaporation performance;

-Application of CA membranes in industrial scale pervaporation units may be feasible for separation of ethanol/water mixtures;

-Bio-ethanol can be produced economically (using distillation and pervaporation by hybrid systems).

[31]

Membrane process opportunities and challenges in the bio-ethanol industry

-As a highly selective and energy-saving unit operation, membranes have a great potential in the bio-ethanol industry, both for starch-based and 2nd generation technology of bio-ethanol.

[32]

Membrane technologies for biorefining and bioenergy production

-Pervaporation membrane bioreactors (PVMBRs) and membrane distillation bioreactors (MDBRs) lead to higher ethanol productivity and minimize the inhibition;

-Membrane hybrid processes further improve biorefining and bioenergy production by decreasing energy consumption, reducing the number of processing steps, and producing high quality final products.

[33]

Lignocellulosic ethanol through polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane

-Yeasts, solid particles, and salts can increase ethanol flux and selectivity;

-Integrated process can effectively eliminate product inhibition, improve ethanol productivity, and enhance the glucose conversion rate.

[34]

Energy demand of biofuel production applying distillation and/or pervaporation

-Multi-stage pervaporation is needed to reach the fuel-grade quality of the bio-ethanol.