Acetone and Butanol Fermentation
Introduction
The production of acetone and butanol by means of solvent-producing strains of Clostridium spp. was one of the first large-scale industrial fermentation processes to be developed,and during the first part of this century it ranked second in importance only to ethanol fermentation. The reason for the almost total demise of this fermentation in the early 1960s was the inability of the fermentation process to compete economically with the chemical synthesis of solvents. However, interest in the use of renewable resources as feedstocks for the production of chemicals and recent developments in the field of biotechnology have resulted in a renewal of interest in the fermentation route as a possible source of solvent production . Within the last 7 years there has been an escalation in research aimed at obtaining a greater understanding of this complex and interesting fermentation, with the aim of developing a more efficient and competitive fermentation process. Although various aspects of the history and development of acetone-butanol (AB) fermentation have been documented by a number of authors, the information is scattered and incomplete, and there is no comprehensive account of the historical development of AB fermentation. We have reviewed the origin and development of conventional industrial AB fermentation in different parts of the world and discuss the current biochemical, genetic, and process engineering research in relation to the problems and prospects of the re-establishment of a viable industrial AB fermentation process.
HISTORY
Origin of Acetone Butanol Fermentation
The production of butanol in a microbial fermentation was first reported by Pasteur in 1861. During the latter part of the 19th century the production of butanol by anaerobic bacteria was studied by a number of investigators however, it was only in 1905 that Schardinger reported the production of acetone by fermentation. Around the turn of the century a shortage of
The production of acetone and butanol by means of solvent-producing strains of Clostridium spp. was one of the first large-scale industrial fermentation processes to be developed,and during the first part of this century it ranked second in importance only to ethanol fermentation. The reason for the almost total demise of this fermentation in the early 1960s was the inability of the fermentation process to compete economically with the chemical synthesis of solvents. However, interest in the use of renewable resources as feedstocks for the production of chemicals and recent developments in the field of biotechnology have resulted in a renewal of interest in the fermentation route as a possible source of solvent production . Within the last 7 years there has been an escalation in research aimed at obtaining a greater understanding of this complex and interesting fermentation, with the aim of developing a more efficient and competitive fermentation process. Although various aspects of the history and development of acetone-butanol (AB) fermentation have been documented by a number of authors, the information is scattered and incomplete, and there is no comprehensive account of the historical development of AB fermentation. We have reviewed the origin and development of conventional industrial AB fermentation in different parts of the world and discuss the current biochemical, genetic, and process engineering research in relation to the problems and prospects of the re-establishment of a viable industrial AB fermentation process.
HISTORY
Origin of Acetone Butanol Fermentation
The production of butanol in a microbial fermentation was first reported by Pasteur in 1861. During the latter part of the 19th century the production of butanol by anaerobic bacteria was studied by a number of investigators however, it was only in 1905 that Schardinger reported the production of acetone by fermentation. Around the turn of the century a shortage of