Solid-phase Fermentation
With this type of fermentation process, the feed to this process is pulped: this involves degrading the mass into water-soluble compounds. This can be washed away from the initial feed and sent to the fermentation unit of operation. Saccharification is sometimes utilized as a pretreatment for this type of fermentation. It has been suggested that this process can be very economical in ethanol plants that plan to product more than a million liters of ethanol; after chopping the feed into smaller pieces and adjusting the pH of the solution to proper conditions, fermentation can be performed anaerobically anywhere between 10 and 16 hours at 25 to 30 °C. This solution is pressed to remove the remaining fibers and the juice is centrifuged to separate the yeasts from the solution.
Flow Diagrams
(Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852407001484)
Equipment
Videos
References