Continuous acetone-butanol-ethanol production by corn stalk immobilized cells.

Corn stalk was used as a support to immobilize Clostridia beijerinckii ATCC 55025 in the fermentation process of acetone, butanol, and ethanol production. The effect of the dilution rate on solvent production was examined in a steady-state 20-day continuous flow operation. The maximum total solvent concentration of 8.99 g l(-1) was obtained at a dilution rate of 0.2 h(-1). Increasing the dilution rate between 0.2 and 1.0 h(-1) resulted in an increased solvent productivity, and the highest solvent productivity was obtained at 5.06 g l(-1) h(-1) with a dilution rate of 1 h(-1). The maximum solvent yield from glucose of 0.32 g g(-1) was observed at 0.25 h(-1). The cell adsorption and morphology change during the growth on corn stalk support were examined by the SEM.