| Abstract
| - A novel, spinning-sparger, external-loop, liquid-lift bioreactor (ELLB) has been studied for thepurpose of enhancing the production of bioethanol by simultaneous mass transfer andfermentation. Oleic acid was used to produce circulatory fluid flow in the ELLB and also toabsorb ethanol from the aqueous, fermentation media. The overall ethanol mass-transfercoefficient (KCa) was found to vary between 7.0 × 10-7 and 3.0 × 10-4 s-1. KCa increased withthe sparger spinning speed, oleic acid flow rate, and ethanol concentration in the aqueous phase.Oleic acid holdup (φL) in the bioreactor increased in a similar manner for each of theseindependent variables. Both KCa and φL were empirically fit to extensive experimental datasets using power-law models. Two batch fermentation experiments demonstrated improvedproduction of bioethanol when oleic acid was used to remove high concentrations of ethanolfrom the fermentation broth.
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