Ellacuriaga, M.; Gil, M.V.; Gómez, X. Syngas Fermentation: Cleaning of Syngas as a Critical Stage in Fermentation Performance. Fermentation2023, 9, 898.
Ellacuriaga, M.; Gil, M.V.; Gómez, X. Syngas Fermentation: Cleaning of Syngas as a Critical Stage in Fermentation Performance. Fermentation 2023, 9, 898.
Ellacuriaga, M.; Gil, M.V.; Gómez, X. Syngas Fermentation: Cleaning of Syngas as a Critical Stage in Fermentation Performance. Fermentation2023, 9, 898.
Ellacuriaga, M.; Gil, M.V.; Gómez, X. Syngas Fermentation: Cleaning of Syngas as a Critical Stage in Fermentation Performance. Fermentation 2023, 9, 898.
Abstract
The fermentation of syngas is an attractive technology that can be integrated with gasification of lignocellulosic biomass. The coupling of these two technologies allows for treating a great variety of raw materials. Lignin usually hinders microbial fermentations; thus, the thermal decomposition of the whole material into small molecules allows for the production of fuels and other types of molecules using syngas as substrate, a process performed at mild conditions. Syngas contains mainly hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in varying proportions. These gases have a low volumetric energy density, resulting more interesting its conversion into higher energy density molecules. Syngas can be transformed by microorganisms, thus avoiding the use of expensive catalysts, which may be subject to poisoning. However, the fermentation is not free of suffering from inhibitory problems. The presence of trace components in syngas may cause a decrease in fermentation yields or cause a complete cessation of bacteria growth. The presence of tar and hydrogen cyanide are just examples of this fermentation's challenges. Syngas cleaning impairs significant restrictions in technology deployment. The technology may seem promising, but it is still far from large-scale application due to several aspects that still need to find a practical solution.
Keywords
biomass gasification; lignocellulosic material; biofuels; ethanol; short chain alcohols
Subject
Engineering, Chemical Engineering
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
