BUTANOL PRODUCTION FROM SUGARCANE JUICES

By  M. KIM and D.F. DAY 
Audubon Sugar Institute, LSU Agricultural Center, La. USA
dday@agcenter.lsu.edu

KEYWORDS: Butanol, Fermentation, Sugar Juices, Biomass.

Abstract

BUTANOLis an aliphatic saturated alcohol with the molecular formula of C4H9OH, which can 
be used as a transportation fuel, an intermediateand a solvent for a wide variety of chemical applications. 
The acetone-butanol fermentation was the standard for industrial production of 
solvents until the 1950s. 
Modern microbiological techniques have improved the original organism such that it 
produces high levels of butanol rather than mixed solvents. 
Butanol has many advantages as an alternative fuel source: 

1)  a higher energy content; 
2)  usable in existing pipelines; 
3)  easy to blend with gasoline. 

Butanol can be produced from sugarcane juice, molasses or sugars from bagasse 
hydrolysates using a strain of Clostridium beijerinckii.
Sugarcane juice and molasses ferment directly to butanol. The yield of butanol was 
0.30 g/g sugar from molasses and 0.34 g/g sugar from juice whereas equivalent sucrose 
concentrations produced 0.27 g butanol per g sugar. 
Details of the economics for a viable production of butanol from sugarcane products 
are presented.

Co-Products Proc. Int. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., Vol. 27, 2010 www.issct.org
Indonesian Sugar Research Institute http://www.sugarresearch.org/index.php/profil