Acetone-butanol fermentation Weizmann process

Microorganisms have also been developed to produce alternative products, such as lactic acid [65], propane-1,3-diol [67], 3-hydroxypropionic acid [68], butane-2,3-diol [69] and numerous other intermediates. For instance, bacteria such as the Clostridium acetobutylicum ferment free sugars to C4 oxygenates such as butyric acid or butanol. They form the C4 oxygenates by Aldol condensation of the acetaldehyde intermediates. The Weizmann process exploits this property to ferment starch feedstock anaerobically at 37 °C to produce a mixture of w-butanol, acetone and ethanol in a volume ratio of 70 25 5 [3],... 

The butanols and their methyl and ethyl ethers have several advantages as oxygenates over methanol and ethanol in gasoline blends. Their energy contents are closer to those of gasoline the compatibility and miscibility problems with petroleum fuels are nil excessive vapor pressure and volatility problems do not occur and they are water tolerant and can be transported in gasoline blends by pipeline without danger of phase separation due to moisture absorption. Fermentation processes (Weizmann process) have been developed for simultaneous production of 1-butanol, 2-propanol, acetone, and ethanol from... 

One of the most fascinating stories of the coatings industry involves the production of acetone, butanol, and ethanol by the Weizmann process (11. 12). Because the main objective was to produce acetone for explosives, the butanol piled up until it was found that butyl acetate was an excellent solvent for the new nitrocellulose lacquers. Commercial Solvents Corporation (of Maryland) was formed in 1919 to take over the fermentation plants operating at Terre Haute to make butanol and derivatives. The availability of butyl alcohol and the acetate was of major aid in the success of nitrocellulose lacquers in new automobile paints that permitted a reduction in the time required for painting automobiles from 23 days in 1920 to a matter of about 12 h in 1940 (13). 

ABE fermentation Another name for the Weizmann process used for the production of acetone, butanol, and ethanol using the acid-resistant bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum. 

Weizmann process A fermentation process used to produce acetone, butanol, and ethanol using the acid-resistant bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum. The bacteria derived from soil and cereals is able to convert whey, sugar, and starch. The process was developed by Russian-born chemist Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952) and was used in the UK in the First World War for the production of acetone, which was used in the production of cordite. He became a UK citizen in 1910 and then the first president of Israel in 1949. The process is also known as the ABE fermentation. 

Weizmann A process for producing acetone and //-butanol by the fermentation of carbohydrates by bacteria isolated from soil or cereals. Later work has shown that effective bacteria are Clostridium acetobutylicum and Bacillus granulobacter pectinorum. Used in Britain in World War I for the manufacture of acetone, needed for the production of cordite. Subsequently operated by Commercial Solvents Corporation in Terre Haute, IN, and in two plants in Canada. Later abandoned in favor of synthetic processes. Invented by C. Weizmann in the University of Manchester in 1915, based on earlier work at the Pastern Institute by A. Fembach and E. H. Strange (hence the alternative name Fembach-Strange-Weizmann). The money that Weizmann obtained from royalties on this process was used in founding the State of Israel, of which he was the first president. 

Between 1914 and 1918, solvent and general chemical production had been geared to the needs of war. At war s end, the chemical surpluses included, in addition to phenol and cellulose acetate, the acetone and butanol from the Weizmann fermentation process and chlorine from poison gas production. The latter, made by electrolysis of sodium chloride solution, became the basis of the British chlorinated solvents industry. Here the outstanding firm was Albright Wilson, which began manufacture of carbon tetrachloride in 1925. Cleaning and degreasing processes led to production of trichloroethylene, for which demand increased dramatically between 1928 and 1936. The principal manufacturer was Weston Co., later taken over by ICl. 

The ABE fermentation process was first developed by C. Weizmann at Manchester University in 1912. Commercial production quickly spread to the United States and then worldwide during the First and Second World Wars first to produce acetone for ammunitions and then later to produce butanol for paint lacquers. The fermentation process fell out of favor in the United States and Europe in the 1950s when renewable solvents could no longer compete with their synthetic equivalents on price. Some production, via fermentation, continued in China, Russia, and South Africa until the early 1980s [54]. 

That creature of serendipity was B-Y. Mixed with a mash of cooked com it fermented the mash into a solution of water and three solvents—one part ethyl alcohol, three parts acetone, six parts butyl alcohol (butanol). The three solvents could then be separated by straightforward distillation. Weizmann tried developing a process for making synthetic rubber from butanol and succeeded. In the meantime, in the years just prior to the beginning of the war, the price of natural rubber fell and the clamor for synthetic rubber stilled. 

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 changed the course of industrial solvent fermentation. To make large amounts of acetone needed in Britain as a solvent for the production of the smokeless explosive cordite, the Fembach and Strange process was used at first (Gabriel 1928). However, when the Weizmann bacterium or BY (which was later named Clostridium acetobutylium ) was found to produce from com more acetone and butanol than the Fembach bacillus produced,... 

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