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Heleen De Wever
Separation and Conversion Technology, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium

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Journal article
Published: 07 November 2020 in Process Biochemistry
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Carbon dioxide (one of the main greenhouse gases) can be used as a raw material in microbial electrosynthesis system (MES) for the production of valuable organic compounds. However, one of the major drawbacks associated with the MES is the mass transfer limitation of CO2 in the aqueous phase. In order to overcome this limitation, several operational strategies such as the increase of CO2 flow rate have been proposed. Therefore, the present paper assessed an H-type MES (H-Cell) carried out under CO2 pure gas supplied at 5, 10 and 20 mL min-1, and a gas diffusion electrode (GDE) MES (VITO-Cell) under 5 and 20 mL min-1. In both the MESs, the increase of the CO2 flow rate led to the improvement of inorganic carbon concentration, reaching until 1068 ± 115 mg L-1 in VITO-Cell. Consequently, in H-Cell the maximum acetate production rate increased from 45 to 270 mg L-1 d-1 when the CO2 flow varied from 5 to 20 mL min-1. In VITO-Cell the maximum acetate production rate reached 85 mg L―1 d―1 at 5 mL min-1 CO2 flow rate due to a better gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient of CO2 provided by the GDE.

ACS Style

Mélida Del Pilar Anzola Rojas; Marcelo Zaiat; Ernesto Rafael González; Heleen De Wever; Deepak Pant. Enhancing the gas–liquid mass transfer during microbial electrosynthesis by the variation of CO2 flow rate. Process Biochemistry 2020, 101, 50 -58.

AMA Style

Mélida Del Pilar Anzola Rojas, Marcelo Zaiat, Ernesto Rafael González, Heleen De Wever, Deepak Pant. Enhancing the gas–liquid mass transfer during microbial electrosynthesis by the variation of CO2 flow rate. Process Biochemistry. 2020; 101 ():50-58.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mélida Del Pilar Anzola Rojas; Marcelo Zaiat; Ernesto Rafael González; Heleen De Wever; Deepak Pant. 2020. "Enhancing the gas–liquid mass transfer during microbial electrosynthesis by the variation of CO2 flow rate." Process Biochemistry 101, no. : 50-58.

Journal article
Published: 18 May 2020 in Biochemical Engineering Journal
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Biorefinery wastewaters can be fermented to produce carboxylates which are high-value platform chemicals. However, the major challenges in this fermentation are limited product yields and productivities faced due to product inhibition and difficulty in carboxylate separation and recovery from fermentation broths. To mitigate the above problems, process optimization via integrated fermentation-separation i.e. in-situ product recovery (ISPR) systems can be considered. As a first step towards development of such coupled carboxylate bioprocesses, this study aimed to provide a detailed analysis of extraction behaviour of a wide array of extractants and diluents for C2-C6 carboxylates in synthetic solutions and real effluent from acidogenic fermentation. Compared to physical extraction without extractant, a 75–85 % increase was achieved when using reactive extraction (RE) and the difference was more pronounced for short chain carboxylates, particularly at pH 4.5. Distribution coefficients and extraction efficiencies increased with increasing extractant concentration and reached an equilibrium at molar ratio of 1:2. Aliquat 336 and tri-octylphosphine oxide solved in methyloctanoate emerged as the best RE systems and yielded high extraction efficiencies of 11.5 and 29.5 (acetic acid) to almost 100 (caproic acid) respectively. Testing with real fermentation effluent demonstrated similar high extraction yields as observed on synthetic solutions. Potential toxicity of RE on acidogenic fermentation was also investigated which suggested the application of an external ISPR configuration for these coupled bioprocesses.

ACS Style

Guneet Kaur; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Kathy Elst; Federica Truzzi; Lorenzo Bertin; Ankita Kaushik; Malini Balakrishnan; Heleen De Wever. Reactive extraction for in-situ carboxylate recovery from mixed culture fermentation. Biochemical Engineering Journal 2020, 160, 107641 .

AMA Style

Guneet Kaur, Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez, Kathy Elst, Federica Truzzi, Lorenzo Bertin, Ankita Kaushik, Malini Balakrishnan, Heleen De Wever. Reactive extraction for in-situ carboxylate recovery from mixed culture fermentation. Biochemical Engineering Journal. 2020; 160 ():107641.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Guneet Kaur; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Kathy Elst; Federica Truzzi; Lorenzo Bertin; Ankita Kaushik; Malini Balakrishnan; Heleen De Wever. 2020. "Reactive extraction for in-situ carboxylate recovery from mixed culture fermentation." Biochemical Engineering Journal 160, no. : 107641.

Review article
Published: 09 September 2019 in Bioresource Technology
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Industrial biotechnology has a potential to tackle harmful CO2 emissions and turn CO2 into a valuable commodity. However, a major technical obstacle in gas fermentations is the limited gas mass transfer rate. Increasing system pressure is a way to increase the driving force for mass transfer. This review presents critical aspects of gas fermentation at elevated pressure, with a specific focus on results obtained at 5–10 bar. While a solid foundation for high pressure fermentations has already been laid in the past, mainly to enhance oxygen transfer rates, it can be concluded that fermentations at moderately elevated pressures using gases such as CO2, CH4, CO, H2, O2 are still underexplored. Microbial growth rates and product formation can be improved at higher pressures, but in general, titers and productivities need to be increased to allow a further industrialization. Hence, more systematic investigations and techno-economic assessments are required.

ACS Style

Wouter Van Hecke; Richard Bockrath; Heleen De Wever. Effects of moderately elevated pressure on gas fermentation processes. Bioresource Technology 2019, 293, 122129 .

AMA Style

Wouter Van Hecke, Richard Bockrath, Heleen De Wever. Effects of moderately elevated pressure on gas fermentation processes. Bioresource Technology. 2019; 293 ():122129.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wouter Van Hecke; Richard Bockrath; Heleen De Wever. 2019. "Effects of moderately elevated pressure on gas fermentation processes." Bioresource Technology 293, no. : 122129.

Journal article
Published: 01 November 2018 in Separation and Purification Technology
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Within the carboxylate platform, carboxylic acids are seen as important building-blocks for the chemical industry, but their recovery is challenging. Membrane based reactive extraction (MBRE) was evaluated for the recovery of these acids from a fermentor in which a mixed culture is converting biorefinery wastewater to carboxylates. Both off-line and in-line experiments were performed. The off-line experiments were promising and extraction efficiencies of 15 (acetic acid) to almost 100 % (caproic acid) were reached. The in-line experiments confirmed the selective and near complete extraction of carboxylates with longer chain length. However the overall extraction rates were lower than in off-line tests and the total carboxylate production rate was also decreasing. This was probably caused by limited but repeating contact between organic phase and fermentation broth via the membrane interface.

ACS Style

Kristien De Sitter; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Claudia Matassa; Lorenzo Bertin; Heleen De Wever. The use of membrane based reactive extraction for the recovery of carboxylic acids from thin stillage. Separation and Purification Technology 2018, 206, 177 -185.

AMA Style

Kristien De Sitter, Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez, Claudia Matassa, Lorenzo Bertin, Heleen De Wever. The use of membrane based reactive extraction for the recovery of carboxylic acids from thin stillage. Separation and Purification Technology. 2018; 206 ():177-185.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristien De Sitter; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Claudia Matassa; Lorenzo Bertin; Heleen De Wever. 2018. "The use of membrane based reactive extraction for the recovery of carboxylic acids from thin stillage." Separation and Purification Technology 206, no. : 177-185.

Journal article
Published: 18 October 2018 in Fermentation
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A major issue hindering efficient industrial ethanol fermentation from sugar-based feedstock is excessive unwanted bacterial contamination. In industrial scale fermentation, reaching complete sterility is costly, laborious, and difficult to sustain in long-term operation. A physical selective separation of a co-culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and an Enterobacter cloacae complex from a buffer solution and fermentation media at dilution rates of 0.1–1 1/h were examined using an immersed membrane bioreactor (iMBR). The effect of the presence of yeast, inoculum size, membrane pore size, and surface area, backwashing and dilution rate on bacteria removal were assessed by evaluating changes in the filtration conditions, medium turbidity, and concentration of compounds and cell biomass. The results showed that using the iMBR with dilution rate of 0.5 1/h results in successful removal of 93% of contaminating bacteria in the single culture and nearly complete bacteria decontamination in yeast-bacteria co-culture. During continuous fermentation, application of lower permeate fluxes provided a stable filtration of the mixed culture with enhanced bacteria washout. This physical selective separation of bacteria from yeast can enhance final ethanol quality and yields, process profitability, yeast metabolic activity, and decrease downstream processing costs.

ACS Style

Amir Mahboubi; Beray Cayli; Gülru Bulkan; Wim Doyen; Heleen De Wever; Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. Removal of Bacterial Contamination from Bioethanol Fermentation System Using Membrane Bioreactor. Fermentation 2018, 4, 88 .

AMA Style

Amir Mahboubi, Beray Cayli, Gülru Bulkan, Wim Doyen, Heleen De Wever, Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. Removal of Bacterial Contamination from Bioethanol Fermentation System Using Membrane Bioreactor. Fermentation. 2018; 4 (4):88.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amir Mahboubi; Beray Cayli; Gülru Bulkan; Wim Doyen; Heleen De Wever; Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. 2018. "Removal of Bacterial Contamination from Bioethanol Fermentation System Using Membrane Bioreactor." Fermentation 4, no. 4: 88.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2018 in Bioresource Technology
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Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) technology relies on the direct use of electrons to convert CO2 into long chain organic chemicals. Therefore, MES has been proposed to be coupled to the renewable electricity supply, mainly from solar and wind sources. However, those energies suffer fluctuations and interruptions of variable duration, which can have an adverse effect on MES performance. Such effects on MES has been evaluated for the first time under different interruptions time. H-cell-MES reactors were disconnected from power supply during 4, 6, 8, 16, 32 and 64 h. Interruptions affected the acetate production rate, causing a decrease of until 77% after 64 h off. However, after all the interruptions, the acetate production was restored, taking between 7 and 16 h for the reduction current to turn steady. Therefore, microbial community on MES proved to be resilient and able to recover the electro-autotrophic activity despite the duration of current supply interruptions.

ACS Style

Mélida Del Pilar Anzola Rojas; Marcelo Zaiat; Ernesto Rafael Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever; Deepak Pant. Effect of the electric supply interruption on a microbial electrosynthesis system converting inorganic carbon into acetate. Bioresource Technology 2018, 266, 203 -210.

AMA Style

Mélida Del Pilar Anzola Rojas, Marcelo Zaiat, Ernesto Rafael Gonzalez, Heleen De Wever, Deepak Pant. Effect of the electric supply interruption on a microbial electrosynthesis system converting inorganic carbon into acetate. Bioresource Technology. 2018; 266 ():203-210.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mélida Del Pilar Anzola Rojas; Marcelo Zaiat; Ernesto Rafael Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever; Deepak Pant. 2018. "Effect of the electric supply interruption on a microbial electrosynthesis system converting inorganic carbon into acetate." Bioresource Technology 266, no. : 203-210.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2018 in Applied Energy
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The technical feasilibity of integrating ABE fermentations with organophilic pervaporation has been described and demonstrated numerous times. However, engineering guidelines for integration of pervaporation with fermentation are currently not available. A novel calculation procedure to size pervaporation units in function of carbohydrate concentration in the feed is elaborated in detail. The overall energetic and economic outlook are less investigated and remain unclear. Furthermore, the effect of permeate pressure and cooling are frequently ignored. Therefore, the advantages and economic outlook of such an integration are estimated and calculated for fermentative n-butanol production at a capacity of 100 ktonnes per year. Biobutanol production costs for two cases were calculated. The base-case consists of a multi-stage acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation with default downstream processing. The alternative is a continuous hybrid process where default downstream processing is complemented with organophilic pervaporation for recovery of solvents during the fermentation. Bare pervaporation module costs were estimated to ensure improved economics in comparison to the base-case. Equal installed costs for both cases are reached at a pervaporation module purchase price of 176 € m−2 for a composite POMS membrane. To derisk this potential large scale organophilic pervaporation application, a module purchase price of 50–100 € m−2 should be targeted.

ACS Style

Wouter Van Hecke; Eva Joossen-Meyvis; Herman Beckers; Heleen De Wever. Prospects & potential of biobutanol production integrated with organophilic pervaporation – A techno-economic assessment. Applied Energy 2018, 228, 437 -449.

AMA Style

Wouter Van Hecke, Eva Joossen-Meyvis, Herman Beckers, Heleen De Wever. Prospects & potential of biobutanol production integrated with organophilic pervaporation – A techno-economic assessment. Applied Energy. 2018; 228 ():437-449.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wouter Van Hecke; Eva Joossen-Meyvis; Herman Beckers; Heleen De Wever. 2018. "Prospects & potential of biobutanol production integrated with organophilic pervaporation – A techno-economic assessment." Applied Energy 228, no. : 437-449.

Journal article
Published: 28 September 2018 in Energy Conversion and Management
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Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) allow CO2 capture and utilization for the electricity-driven bioproduction of organics such as acetic acid. Such systems can be coupled to any renewable electricity supply, especially those derived from solar and wind energy. However, fluctuations or even absence of electricity may cause damages or changes in the microbial community, and/or affect the performance and robustness of MES. Therefore, the transformation of gaseous CO2 into organic products in a MES was assessed continuously during 120 days of operation. Time-increasing power outages, from 4 h to 64 h, were applied in order to evaluate the effects of electric energy (current) absence on microbial community, organics formation, production rates and product accumulation. Acetic acid was the main product observed before and after the power outages. A maximum titer and production rate of 6965 mg L−1 and 516.2 mg L−1 d−1 (35.8 g m−2 d−1) of acetic acid were observed, respectively. During the absence of power supply, it was observed that acetic acid is oxidized back to CO2 which suggests microbial activity and/or pathway reversal. However, the electro-autotrophic activity recovered after the power gaps, and acetic acid production was restored after reconnecting the energy supply, reaching a current density of −25 A m−2. The microbial community of the biofilm responsible for this behavior was characterized by means of high-throughput sequencing, revealing that Clostridium, Desulfovibrio and Sporomusa accounted for 93% of the total community attached onto the cathodic biofilm. Such resilience of electrotrophic microorganisms reinforces the opportunity to couple bioelectrochemical systems to renewable energy, overcoming the eventual electrical power fluctuations.

ACS Style

Mélida Del Pilar Anzola Rojas; Raúl Mateos; Ana Sotres; Marcelo Zaiat; Ernesto Rafael Gonzalez; Adrián Escapa; Heleen De Wever; Deepak Pant. Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) from CO2 is resilient to fluctuations in renewable energy supply. Energy Conversion and Management 2018, 177, 272 -279.

AMA Style

Mélida Del Pilar Anzola Rojas, Raúl Mateos, Ana Sotres, Marcelo Zaiat, Ernesto Rafael Gonzalez, Adrián Escapa, Heleen De Wever, Deepak Pant. Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) from CO2 is resilient to fluctuations in renewable energy supply. Energy Conversion and Management. 2018; 177 ():272-279.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mélida Del Pilar Anzola Rojas; Raúl Mateos; Ana Sotres; Marcelo Zaiat; Ernesto Rafael Gonzalez; Adrián Escapa; Heleen De Wever; Deepak Pant. 2018. "Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) from CO2 is resilient to fluctuations in renewable energy supply." Energy Conversion and Management 177, no. : 272-279.

Journal article
Published: 01 September 2018 in Process Biochemistry
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Two of the main hurdles in industrial production of second generation bioethanol are the high content of inhibitory compounds and presence of sequentially fermented hexose and pentose saccharides in the feedstock. In order to tackle these issues, the novel cell confinement approach in a reverse membrane bioreactor (rMBR), used in this study, proved to be promising for robust fermentation of high-inhibitory xylose-glucose media simulating a lignocellulosic hydrolysate. The high local cell concentration and concentration-driven diffusion-based mass transfer conditions in rMBR enhanced simultaneous utilization of sugars and boosted cell furfural tolerance/detoxification capacity. The diffusion rates of all compounds through the membrane were measured in a diffusion cell and in an rMBR. In the rMBR, yeast cells could readily convert high content of furfural (10 g/l) that is toxic to freely-suspended cells. Moreover, in the presence of 2.5 g/l of furfural, cells had the same performance as in medium with no inhibitor and could simultaneously convert glucose, xylose, and furfural with the latter two at the same rate with no lag phase. The performance of rMBR in remediating issues revolving around lignocellulosic bioethanol production covers the shortcomings of the conventional encapsulation technique and opens new areas of application for diffusion-based bioconversion systems.

ACS Style

Amir Mahboubi; Magnus Lundin; Wim Doyen; Heleen De Wever; Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. Diffusion-based reverse membrane bioreactor for simultaneous bioconversion of high-inhibitor xylose-glucose media. Process Biochemistry 2018, 72, 23 -30.

AMA Style

Amir Mahboubi, Magnus Lundin, Wim Doyen, Heleen De Wever, Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. Diffusion-based reverse membrane bioreactor for simultaneous bioconversion of high-inhibitor xylose-glucose media. Process Biochemistry. 2018; 72 ():23-30.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amir Mahboubi; Magnus Lundin; Wim Doyen; Heleen De Wever; Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. 2018. "Diffusion-based reverse membrane bioreactor for simultaneous bioconversion of high-inhibitor xylose-glucose media." Process Biochemistry 72, no. : 23-30.

Journal article
Published: 21 August 2018 in Applied Sciences
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White biotechnology is promising to transform CO2 emissions into a valuable commodity chemical such as the biopolymer polyhydroxyalkanaotes (PHA). Our calculations indicated that the indirect conversion of acetic acid from CO2 into PHA is an interesting alternative for the direct production of PHA from CO2 in terms of CO2 fixation, H2 consumption, substrate cost, safety and process performance. An alternative cultivation method using acetic acid as an indirect sink of CO2 was therefore developed and a proof-of-concept provided for the synthesis of both the homopolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and the copolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV). The aim was to compare key performance parameters with those of existing cultivation methods for direct conversion of CO2 to PHA. Fed-batch cultivations for PHA production were performed using a pH-stat fed-batch feeding strategy in combination with an additional Dissolved Oxygen (DO)-dependent feed. After 118 h of fermentation, 60 g/L cell dry matter (CDM) containing 72% of PHB was obtained, which are the highest result values reported so far. Fed-batch cultivations for PHBV production resulted in 65 g/L CDM and 48 g/L PHBV concentration with a 3HV fraction of 27 mol %. Further research should be oriented towards process optimisation, whole process integration and design, and techno-economic assessment.

ACS Style

Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever. Acetic Acid as an Indirect Sink of CO2 for the Synthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA): Comparison with PHA Production Processes Directly Using CO2 as Feedstock. Applied Sciences 2018, 8, 1416 .

AMA Style

Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez, Heleen De Wever. Acetic Acid as an Indirect Sink of CO2 for the Synthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA): Comparison with PHA Production Processes Directly Using CO2 as Feedstock. Applied Sciences. 2018; 8 (9):1416.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever. 2018. "Acetic Acid as an Indirect Sink of CO2 for the Synthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA): Comparison with PHA Production Processes Directly Using CO2 as Feedstock." Applied Sciences 8, no. 9: 1416.

Research article
Published: 26 March 2018 in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
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Itaconic acid (IA), an unsaturated dicarboxylic acid produced by fermentation, is a promising alternative to petrochemical-based monomers as a building block for plastics, resins, and synthetic fibers. Efficient recovery of IA from aqueous fermentation broth was previously achieved by amine-based reactive extraction (RE) systems. In the present work, several back extraction methods were tested in order to recover IA from four different RE solutions, three based on trioctylamine and the diluents methyloctanoate, pentylacetate, and 1-octanol, and one based on N-methyldioctylamine and the diluent 1-octanol. Conventional back extraction methods using a temperature swing, NaOH, or tertiary volatile amines were applied and tested at different conditions. Especially with tertiary volatile amines, good back extraction efficiencies were achieved. As an intensified approach, in addition a novel back extraction-conversion method was developed to recover the itaconic acid in the form of methyl-esters. This approach was based on noncatalyzed in situ esterification with high temperature–pressure methanol (HTPM) allowing a continuous processing. Reaction temperature, residence time, pressure, and methanol excess were investigated. At 200–250 °C and a residence time of 10–20 min, with methanol dosed at a similar weight as the RE-layer, ester formation of >80 mol % could be obtained with a continuous esterification process. This latter method can be a suitable alternative technique for standard back extraction procedures, aiming at an easy recovery of the IA ester through distillation, followed by a direct polymerization to bioplastics.

ACS Style

Guneet Kaur; Miranda Maesen; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever; Kathy Elst. Novel Intensified Back Extraction Process for Itaconic Acid: Toward in Situ Product Recovery for Itaconic Acid Fermentation. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2018, 6, 7403 -7411.

AMA Style

Guneet Kaur, Miranda Maesen, Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez, Heleen De Wever, Kathy Elst. Novel Intensified Back Extraction Process for Itaconic Acid: Toward in Situ Product Recovery for Itaconic Acid Fermentation. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2018; 6 (6):7403-7411.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Guneet Kaur; Miranda Maesen; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever; Kathy Elst. 2018. "Novel Intensified Back Extraction Process for Itaconic Acid: Toward in Situ Product Recovery for Itaconic Acid Fermentation." ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 6, no. 6: 7403-7411.

Journal article
Published: 01 February 2018 in Bioresource Technology
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A microbial production process was developed to convert CO2 and valeric acid into tailored poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) bioplastics. The aim was to understand microbial PHBV production in mixotrophic conditions and to control the monomer distribution in the polymer. Continuous sparging of CO2 with pulse and pH-stat feeding of valeric acid were evaluated to produce PHBV copolyesters with predefined properties. The desired random monomer distribution was obtained by limiting the valeric acid concentration (below 1 gL(-1)). (1)H-NMR, (13)C-NMR and chromatographic analysis of the PHBV copolymer confirmed both the monomer distribution and the 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) fraction in the produced PHBV. A physical-based model was developed for mixotrophic PHBV production, which was calibrated and validated with independent experimental datasets. To produce PHBV with a predefined 3HV fraction, an operating diagram was constructed. This tool was able to predict the 3HV fraction with a very good accuracy (2% deviation).

ACS Style

Stef Ghysels; Salatul Islam Mozumder; Heleen De Wever; Eveline Volcke; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez. Targeted poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) bioplastic production from carbon dioxide. Bioresource Technology 2018, 249, 858 -868.

AMA Style

Stef Ghysels, Salatul Islam Mozumder, Heleen De Wever, Eveline Volcke, Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez. Targeted poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) bioplastic production from carbon dioxide. Bioresource Technology. 2018; 249 ():858-868.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Stef Ghysels; Salatul Islam Mozumder; Heleen De Wever; Eveline Volcke; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez. 2018. "Targeted poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) bioplastic production from carbon dioxide." Bioresource Technology 249, no. : 858-868.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2017 in Journal of Membrane Science
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ACS Style

Wouter Van Hecke; Heleen De Wever. High-flux POMS organophilic pervaporation for ABE recovery applied in fed-batch and continuous set-ups. Journal of Membrane Science 2017, 540, 321 -332.

AMA Style

Wouter Van Hecke, Heleen De Wever. High-flux POMS organophilic pervaporation for ABE recovery applied in fed-batch and continuous set-ups. Journal of Membrane Science. 2017; 540 ():321-332.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wouter Van Hecke; Heleen De Wever. 2017. "High-flux POMS organophilic pervaporation for ABE recovery applied in fed-batch and continuous set-ups." Journal of Membrane Science 540, no. : 321-332.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2017 in Bioresource Technology
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Finding a technological approach that eases the production of lignocellulosic bioethanol has long been considered as a great industrial challenge. In the current study a membrane bioreactor (MBR) set-up using integrated permeate channel (IPC) membrane panels was used to simultaneously ferment pentose and hexose sugars to ethanol in continuous fermentation of high suspended solid wheat straw hydrolysate. The MBR was optimized to flawlessly operated at high SS concentrations of up to 20% without any significant changes in the permeate flux and transmembrane pressure. By the help of the retained high cell concentration, the yeast cells were capable of tolerating and detoxifying the inhibitory medium and succeeded to co-consume all glucose and up to 83% of xylose in a continuous fermentation mode leading to up to 83% of the theoretical ethanol yield.

ACS Style

Amir Mahboubi; Päivi Ylitervo; Wim Doyen; Heleen De Wever; Bart Molenberghs; Mohammad Taherzadeh. Continuous bioethanol fermentation from wheat straw hydrolysate with high suspended solid content using an immersed flat sheet membrane bioreactor. Bioresource Technology 2017, 241, 296 -308.

AMA Style

Amir Mahboubi, Päivi Ylitervo, Wim Doyen, Heleen De Wever, Bart Molenberghs, Mohammad Taherzadeh. Continuous bioethanol fermentation from wheat straw hydrolysate with high suspended solid content using an immersed flat sheet membrane bioreactor. Bioresource Technology. 2017; 241 ():296-308.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amir Mahboubi; Päivi Ylitervo; Wim Doyen; Heleen De Wever; Bart Molenberghs; Mohammad Taherzadeh. 2017. "Continuous bioethanol fermentation from wheat straw hydrolysate with high suspended solid content using an immersed flat sheet membrane bioreactor." Bioresource Technology 241, no. : 296-308.

Journal article
Published: 13 September 2017 in FEMS Microbiology Letters
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As one of the key enabling technologies, industrial biotechnology has a high potential to tackle harmful CO2 emissions and to turn CO2 into a valuable commodity. So far, experimental work mainly focused on the bioconversion of pure CO2 to chemicals and plastics and little is known about the tolerance of the bioprocesses to the presence of impurities. This work is the first to investigate the impact of real CO2-rich off-gases on autotrophic production of polyhydroxybutyrate. To this end, two-phase heterotrophic-autotrophic fermentation experiments were set up, consisting of heterothrophic cell mass growth using glucose as substrate followed by autotrophic biopolymer production using either pure synthetic CO2 or industrial off-gases sampled at two point sources. The use of real off-gases did not affect the bacterial performance. High biopolymer content (up to 73%) and productivities (up to 0.227 g/lh) were obtained. Characterisation of the polymers showed that all biopolymers had similar properties, independent of the CO2 source. Moreover, the CO2-derived biopolymers’ properties were comparable to commercial ones and biopolymers reported in literature, which are all produced from organic carbon sources.

ACS Style

Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever. Valorisation of CO2-rich off-gases to biopolymers through biotechnological process. FEMS Microbiology Letters 2017, 364, 1 .

AMA Style

Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez, Heleen De Wever. Valorisation of CO2-rich off-gases to biopolymers through biotechnological process. FEMS Microbiology Letters. 2017; 364 (20):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever. 2017. "Valorisation of CO2-rich off-gases to biopolymers through biotechnological process." FEMS Microbiology Letters 364, no. 20: 1.

Article
Published: 24 August 2017 in Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology
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BACKGROUNDThe di-carboxylic acids succinic acid and itaconic acid are promising building block chemicals that can be produced through fermentation, but the processes would benefit from enhancements in product recovery. While sorption has already been studied to some extent for succinate/succinic acid removal, literature on the potential of sorption for itaconic acid recovery is scarce. This work thus aimed to screen a range of sorbents and/or resins for their capacity to separate both acids from fermentation broths, envisaging both ex situ and in situ product recovery applications.RESULTSStatic batch screening led to a shortlist of 4 promising products. These were further characterized in terms of dynamic sorption capacity, regenerability, acid recovery, ability to concentrate the product and stability during sorption-desorption cycles. Final tests with real fermentation broth gave unsatisfying results for succinic acid recovery. For itaconic acid, promising results were obtained both on synthetic solutions and on a real fermentation broth.CONCLUSIONWhile it is doubtful that adsorption will be the process of choice for in situ or ex situ succinic acid recovery, well performing sorbents could be identified for itaconic acid recovery from fermentation broths, offering perspectives for in situ product recovery application.

ACS Style

Heleen De Wever; Danielle Dennewald. Screening of sorbents for recovery of succinic and itaconic acid from fermentation broths. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology 2017, 93, 385 -391.

AMA Style

Heleen De Wever, Danielle Dennewald. Screening of sorbents for recovery of succinic and itaconic acid from fermentation broths. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology. 2017; 93 (2):385-391.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Heleen De Wever; Danielle Dennewald. 2017. "Screening of sorbents for recovery of succinic and itaconic acid from fermentation broths." Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology 93, no. 2: 385-391.

Journal article
Published: 01 May 2017 in Electrochimica Acta
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ACS Style

Suman Bajracharya; Bart Van Den Burg; Karolien Vanbroekhoven; Heleen De Wever; Cees J.N. Buisman; Deepak Pant; David P.B.T.B. Strik. In situ acetate separation in microbial electrosynthesis from CO2 using ion-exchange resin. Electrochimica Acta 2017, 237, 267 -275.

AMA Style

Suman Bajracharya, Bart Van Den Burg, Karolien Vanbroekhoven, Heleen De Wever, Cees J.N. Buisman, Deepak Pant, David P.B.T.B. Strik. In situ acetate separation in microbial electrosynthesis from CO2 using ion-exchange resin. Electrochimica Acta. 2017; 237 ():267-275.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Suman Bajracharya; Bart Van Den Burg; Karolien Vanbroekhoven; Heleen De Wever; Cees J.N. Buisman; Deepak Pant; David P.B.T.B. Strik. 2017. "In situ acetate separation in microbial electrosynthesis from CO2 using ion-exchange resin." Electrochimica Acta 237, no. : 267-275.

Journal article
Published: 01 April 2017 in Journal of Membrane Science
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ACS Style

Wouter Van Hecke; Suzanne Verhoef; Wim Groot; Marija Sarić; Bert van de Bunt; André de Haan; Heleen De Wever. Investigation of lactate productivity in membrane bioreactors on C5/C6 carbohydrates. Journal of Membrane Science 2017, 528, 336 -345.

AMA Style

Wouter Van Hecke, Suzanne Verhoef, Wim Groot, Marija Sarić, Bert van de Bunt, André de Haan, Heleen De Wever. Investigation of lactate productivity in membrane bioreactors on C5/C6 carbohydrates. Journal of Membrane Science. 2017; 528 ():336-345.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wouter Van Hecke; Suzanne Verhoef; Wim Groot; Marija Sarić; Bert van de Bunt; André de Haan; Heleen De Wever. 2017. "Investigation of lactate productivity in membrane bioreactors on C5/C6 carbohydrates." Journal of Membrane Science 528, no. : 336-345.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2016 in Biochemical Engineering Journal
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ACS Style

Salatul Islam Mozumder; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever; Eveline I.P. Volcke. Model-based process analysis of heterotrophic-autotrophic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) production. Biochemical Engineering Journal 2016, 114, 202 -208.

AMA Style

Salatul Islam Mozumder, Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez, Heleen De Wever, Eveline I.P. Volcke. Model-based process analysis of heterotrophic-autotrophic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) production. Biochemical Engineering Journal. 2016; 114 ():202-208.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Salatul Islam Mozumder; Linsey Garcia-Gonzalez; Heleen De Wever; Eveline I.P. Volcke. 2016. "Model-based process analysis of heterotrophic-autotrophic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) production." Biochemical Engineering Journal 114, no. : 202-208.

Review
Published: 01 September 2016 in Biotechnology Advances
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The novel concept of reverse membrane bioreactors (rMBR) introduced in this review is a new membrane-assisted cell retention technique benefiting from the advantageous properties of both conventional MBRs and cell encapsulation techniques to tackle issues in bioconversion and fermentation of complex feeds. The rMBR applies high local cell density and membrane separation of cell/feed to the conventional immersed membrane bioreactor (iMBR) set up. Moreover, this new membrane configuration functions on basis of concentration-driven diffusion rather than pressure-driven convection previously used in conventional MBRs. These new features bring along the exceptional ability of rMBRs in aiding complex bioconversion and fermentation feeds containing high concentrations of inhibitory compounds, a variety of sugar sources and high suspended solid content. In the current review, the similarities and differences between the rMBR and conventional MBRs and cell encapsulation regarding advantages, disadvantages, principles and applications for biofuel production are presented and compared. Moreover, the potential of rMBRs in bioconversion of specific complex substrates of interest such as lignocellulosic hydrolysate is thoroughly studied.

ACS Style

Amir Mahboubi; Päivi Ylitervo; Wim Doyen; Heleen De Wever; Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. Reverse membrane bioreactor: Introduction to a new technology for biofuel production. Biotechnology Advances 2016, 34, 954 -975.

AMA Style

Amir Mahboubi, Päivi Ylitervo, Wim Doyen, Heleen De Wever, Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. Reverse membrane bioreactor: Introduction to a new technology for biofuel production. Biotechnology Advances. 2016; 34 (5):954-975.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amir Mahboubi; Päivi Ylitervo; Wim Doyen; Heleen De Wever; Mohammad J. Taherzadeh. 2016. "Reverse membrane bioreactor: Introduction to a new technology for biofuel production." Biotechnology Advances 34, no. 5: 954-975.