Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering Commons^™

Abe Fermentation From Low Cost Substrates, Kai Gao

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The high cost of substrate and product inhibition in the fermentation broth remains two major problems associated with bio-butanol production. This thesis aims to solve these problems by examining abundant lignocellulosic biomass as potential feedstocks and exploring novel substrates such as carbohydrates derived from microalgae for ABE fermentation. The commonly observed toxic effect after pretreatment of lignocelluslosic biomass was removed by resin adsorption, where the resin could also serve as an in-situ butanol recvoery devices.

Corn cobs (an agricultural waste), switchgrass (an energy crop) and phragmites (an invasive plant in North America) were investigated as substrates for ABE fermentation by …

Fermentative Processes Requiring Low Solubility Feed Gases: An Investigation Into Gas-Dependent Microorganisms, Eric W. Doerr

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Two bioprocesses were separately investigated based on their common interest of using gaseous substrates that have low solubility. The first process involved the development of a mixed culture using two organisms capable of utilizing glycerol and carbon monoxide separately to increase biobutanol production, while the second process involved an investigation of different production media used in aerobic xanthan production of Xanthomonas campestris with pressurization effects. It was determined that Clostridium pasteurianum should be used with an organism like Clostridium carboxidivorans or Eubacterium limosum in order for butyrate uptake at 3 g/L to occur with a minimum 0.1 g/L butyrate production. …

Minor Whey Protein Purification Using Ion-Exchange Column Chromatography, Naeimeh Faraji Dizaji

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is concerned with application of mechanistic models for recovery and purification of two minor milk proteins to develop an efficient and robust process. A fundamental and quantitative understanding of the underlying mechanisms assists to evaluate chances and challenges in non-linear chromatography.

The first chapter considers adsorption isotherm data of two minor whey proteins on cation exchanger under various conditions and used as the basis to develop a predictive approach for correlating adsorption behavior using a mechanistic isotherm model. The SMA isotherm model explicitly considers the contributions of protein-adsorbent and protein-protein interactions in the simulation of salt gradients in …