Acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation integrated with simplified gas stripping using sweet sorghum bagasse as immobilized carrier

In this study, the influence of sweet sorghum bagasse (SSB) as immobilized carrier on acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation integrated with gas stripping was investigated. During the integrated process, the immobilized bioreactor was also treated as the spinner flask for gas stripping. It appeared that the homogenization of the fermentation broth and the efficiency of solvents separation were enhanced. With the immobilized bioreactor treated as the spinner flask, fed-batch fermentation that integrated with intermittent and that integrated with continuous gas stripping were investigated, respectively. As a result, 155.7–255.6 g/L of ABE solvent was achieved in the condensate with 0.38 ± 0.06 g/L/h of productivity in the intermittent gas stripping scenario, while 180 ± 25 g/L of ABE in the condensate with productivity of ∼1.15 g/L/h were achieved in the continuous gas stripping integrated scenario. The simplified integrated process showed advantage both in ABE productivity and concentration compared with other reports.