Improvement of productivity and efficiency in ethanol production with ca-alginate immobilized zymomonas mobilis

Summary A three-stage reactor system was used to obtain high ethanol concentration (74 g/1) with immobilized Zymomonas mobilis DSM 424. The catalyst efficiency was improved by formation of small diameter beads and arrangement of the biocatalyst in a reactor configuration adapted to the kinetics of ethanol production. A higher productivity than reported before was obtained with 56,5 g/lh based on total working volume at a sugar conversion rate of 98%. The bioreactor was run continuously for 65d.