Investigation on the Transient Conditions of a Rotating Biological Contactor for Bioethanol Production

A. Converti, D. De Faveri, P. Perego, J. M. Domínguez, J. C. M. Carvalho, M. S. A. Palma and M. Del Borghi

Abstract
Alcoholic fermentations of sucrose solutions were performed in a Rotating Biological Contactor with immobilized-yeast cells, and the results collected during the transient conditions of start-up are presented and discussed. The analysis and modeling of data constitute a preliminary semi-empirical approach to the study of dynamics of such a bioprocess. The investigation has been developed on the observations of the responses to variations in the operating conditions of substrate, product, suspended- and immobilized- cell concentrations either in the fermentation broth or within a synthetic spongy matrix.

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Keywords
start-up, dynamics, transient conditions, immobilized-cell reactor, alcoholic fermentation