Engineering Commons^™

Investigating The Feasibility Of Using Mesoporous Silica Particles To Deliver Glucose During Anaerobic Fermentation, Megan E. Walz

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

The study presented herein investigated a potential low-energy method to separate and concentrate glucose from a lignocellulosic hydrolysate. The motivation for this method was twofold: 1) to provide the fermentation microorganism an optimal glucose concentration and 2) to supply a fermentation media free of inhibitory compounds. Two sizes of porous silica particles (with 7 nm and 2.3 nm pores) were synthesized and their ability to adsorb glucose from solution confirmed. Next, the ability of two different microorganisms, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Streptococcus bovis, to utilize sugars adsorbed to the porous silica particles was investigated.

Both the 7 nm and 2.3 …