Engineered osmosis for pre-concentration of sugar-derived biofuels

Abstract

A novel process is proposed for the pre-concentration of sugar-derived biofuels from an aqueous fermentation broth, using Engineered Osmosis, an emerging membrane technology. While in itself an interesting candidate for such applications, the outlined scheme is unique in that it utilizes an energy source inherent to such systems, namely the osmotic potential which exists between the stock solution (glucose) and the dilute fermentation product.