Performance of batch and continuous reactors with co-immobilized yeast and beta-galactosidase

The anaerobic fermentation of deproteinized whey with beta-galactosidase coimmobilized with Saccharomyces cerevisiae in calcium alginate gel beads for the production of ethanol has been studied in a continuous horizontal packed bed reactor (HPBR). The results are compared with batch experiments in a stirred tank reactor. The immobilized yeast cells are exposed to conditions that vary with time and location in the reactor, making a true steady state impossible. In spite of a very low specific growth rate-of the order of 0.01 h-1 in the first section of the HPBR-the yeast cell growth, accompanied by bead expansion in this section, was high enough to create a cell concentration gradient along the reactor. The continuous reactor is preferable to the batch reactor as the galactose conversion is more efficient. The highest volumetric productivity obtained in the HPBR was 125 mol ethanol m-3 h-1 (6 g ethanol dm-3 h-1) at a substrate concentration of 164 mol m-3 lactose (56 g dm-3) and a dilution rate of 0.21 h-1, corresponding to a space velocity of 0.51 dm3 dm-3 gel h-1. The ethanol yield from consumed glucose and galactose was 80%. The ethanol yield from lactose was only 70%, as only 75% of the galactose was consumed while all the lactose and glucose were converted.