Intensification de la brique « fermentation alcoolique » de substrats betteraviers pour la production d’éthanol

L’éthanol est un composé à usages très variés allant de la chimie à l’agroalimentaire. Cependant, la croissance actuelle du marché se fait essentiellement autour de l’utilisation de l’éthanol en tant que carburant. L’objectif de ce projet est d’intensifier la production d’éthanol à partir du sirop basse pureté, produit de la seconde cristallisation des jus d’extraction de betterave, afin de diminuer les consommations en énergie et en eau pour la production d’éthanol. Pour ce faire, en partenariat avec l’UNGDA et l’ADEME, nous avons mené des travaux de recherche sur les fermentations à haute densité afin d’obtenir des vins à teneur plus élevée en éthanol. A l’issu d’un état de l’art et de quatre visites dans des ateliers de production, une stratégie de recherche en trois points a été établie. Le premier point a consisté en la recherche d’une composition de milieu de fermentation permettant d’augmenter la concentration finale en éthanol. Le second point a eu pour but de déterminer si les besoins en nutriments se limitaient uniquement à la phase de croissance ou au contraire si l’apport de ces nutriments était bénéfique tout au long de la fermentation. Le dernier point a quant à lui utilisé l’ensemble des résultats obtenus pour définir une conduite de procédé, permettant d’obtenir la concentration finale en éthanol la plus élevée possible. Ces résultats montrent qu’il est possible de réaliser des fermentations haute densité à partir de sirop basse pureté et d’obtenir 15,2 % (v/v) d’éthanol en fin de fermentation. L’application de ces travaux dans les ateliers de production permettrait d’économiser par litre d’éthanol pur, entre 20 et 30 % d’énergie pour la distillation, entre 35 et 49 % d’eau pour la réalisation des milieux de fermentation à partir de SBP et de diminuer de 23 à 38 % le volume de déchet produit après distillation. Ethanol is a compound with a wide usage range from chemistry to food. However, the current market growth mainly concerns the use of ethanol as fuel. The objective of this project was to intensify ethanol production from low purity syrup 2, which is a substrate from sugar beet, in order to reduce the consumptions of energy and water for its production. To do this, in partnership with UNGDA and ADEME, we have conducted research on high-gravity fermentations in order to increase the ethanol concentration at the end of the fermentation. With the coming of a state of the art and four visits in production facilities, a three points research strategy has been established. The first point consisted of fermentation medium composition finding in order to increase the final ethanol concentration at the end of the fermentation. The second point was to determine if the nutrients requirements were limited only during the growth phase or, on the contrary, if nutriments were beneficial throughout the fermentation. The latter point was to use the overall results to define a fermentation process, to obtain a final ethanol concentration as high as possible. These results show that it is possible to achieve high gravity fermentation from low purity syrup and reach a final ethanol concentration of 15.2 % (v/v). The application of this work in production facilities could save per liter of pure ethanol between 20 and 30% energy for distillation, between 35 and 49 % water for the production of fermentation media from SBP and decrease from 23 to 38 % of the volume of waste produced after distillation

Intensification de la brique « fermentation alcoolique » de substrats betteraviers (et autres substrats) pour la production d’éthanol

L'éthanol est un composé à usages très variés allant de la chimie à l'agroalimentaire. Cependant, la croissance actuelle du marché se fait essentiellement autour de l'utilisation de l'éthanol en tant que carburant. L'objectif de ce projet est d'intensifier la production d'éthanol à partir du sirop basse pureté, produit de la seconde cristallisation des jus d'extraction de betterave, afin de diminuer les consommations en énergie et en eau pour la production d'éthanol. Pour ce faire, en partenariat avec l'UNGDA et l'ADEME, nous avons mené des travaux de recherche sur les fermentations à haute densité afin d'obtenir des vins à teneur plus élevée en éthanol. A l'issu d'un état de l'art et de quatre visites dans des ateliers de production, une stratégie de recherche en trois points a été établie. Le premier point a consisté en la recherche d'une composition de milieu de fermentation permettant d'augmenter la concentration finale en éthanol. Le second point a eu pour but de déterminer si les besoins en nutriments se limitaient uniquement à la phase de croissance ou au contraire si l'apport de ces nutriments était bénéfique tout au long de la fermentation. Le dernier point a quant à lui utilisé l'ensemble des résultats obtenus pour définir une conduite de procédé, permettant d'obtenir la concentration finale en éthanol la plus élevée possible. Ces résultats montrent qu'il est possible de réaliser des fermentations haute densité à partir de sirop basse pureté et d'obtenir 15,2 % (v/v) d'éthanol en fin de fermentation. L'application de ces travaux dans les ateliers de production permettrait d'économiser par litre d'éthanol pur, entre 20 et 30 % d'énergie pour la distillation, entre 35 et 49 % d'eau pour la réalisation des milieux de fermentation à partir de SBP et de diminuer de 23 à 38 % le volume de déchet produit après distillation. ABSTRACT : Ethanol is a compound with a wide usage range from chemistry to food. However, the current market growth mainly concerns the use of ethanol as fuel. The objective of this project was to intensify ethanol production from low purity syrup 2, which is a substrate from sugar beet, in order to reduce the consumptions of energy and water for its production. To do this, in partnership with UNGDA and ADEME, we have conducted research on high-gravity fermentations in order to increase the ethanol concentration at the end of the fermentation. With the coming of a state of the art and four visits in production facilities, a three points research strategy has been established. The first point consisted of fermentation medium composition finding in order to increase the final ethanol concentration at the end of the fermentation. The second point was to determine if the nutrients requirements were limited only during the growth phase or, on the contrary, if nutriments were beneficial throughout the fermentation. The latter point was to use the overall results to define a fermentation process, to obtain a final ethanol concentration as high as possible. These results show that it is possible to achieve high gravity fermentation from low purity syrup and reach a final ethanol concentration of 15.2 % (v/v). The application of this work in production facilities could save per liter of pure ethanol between 20 and 30% energy for distillation, between 35 and 49 % water for the production of fermentation media from SBP and decrease from 23 to 38 % of the volume of waste produced after distillation

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 catalysed by Geobacter sulfurreducens grown on polarized stainless steel cathodes

Polarized stainless steel cathodes in pure cultures of Geobacter sulfurreducens generated reduction currents of up to 30 A/m2 even when the sole electron acceptor contained in solution was completely reduced. It was shown here that these currents were driven by the carbon dioxide that was provided to the solution. It was postulated that CO2 reduction consumed succinate and produced glycerol, which remained stored inside the cells and was released under the effect of stress

Testing Models of Intrinsic Brightness Variations in Type Ia Supernovae, and their Impact on Measuring Cosmological Parameters

For spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia supernovae we evaluate models of intrinsic brightness variations with detailed data/Monte Carlo comparisons of the dispersion in the following quantities: Hubble-diagram scatter, color difference (B-V-c) between the true B-V color and the fitted color (c) from the SALT-II light curve model, and photometric redshift residual. The data sample includes 251 ugriz light curves from the 3-season Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II, and 191 griz light curves from the Supernova Legacy Survey 3-year data release. We find that the simplest model of a wavelength-independent (coherent) scatter is not adequate, and that to describe the data the intrinsic scatter model must have wavelength-dependent variations. We use Monte Carlo simulations to examine the standard approach of adding a coherent scatter term in quadrature to the distance-modulus uncertainty in order to bring the reduced chi2 to unity when fitting a Hubble diagram. If the light curve fits include model uncertainties with the correct wavelength dependence of the scatter, we find that the bias on the dark energy equation of state parameter $w$ is negligible. However, incorrect model uncertainties can lead to a significant bias on the distance moduli, with up to ~0.05 mag redshift-dependent variation. For the recent SNLS3 cosmology results we estimate that this effect introduces an additional systematic uncertainty on $w$ of ~0.02, well below the total uncertainty. However, this uncertainty depends on the samples used, and thus this small $w$-uncertainty is not guaranteed in future cosmology results.Comment: accepted by Ap

Intensification de la brique fermentation alcoolique de substrats betteraviers (et autres substrats) pour la production d'éthanol

L'éthanol est un composé à usages très variés allant de la chimie à l'agroalimentaire. Cependant, la croissance actuelle du marché se fait essentiellement autour de l'utilisation de l'éthanol en tant que carburant. L'objectif de ce projet est d'intensifier la production d'éthanol à partir du sirop basse pureté, produit de la seconde cristallisation des jus d'extraction de betterave, afin de diminuer les consommations en énergie et en eau pour la production d'éthanol. Pour ce faire, en partenariat avec l'UNGDA et l'ADEME, nous avons mené des travaux de recherche sur les fermentations à haute densité afin d'obtenir des vins à teneur plus élevée en éthanol. A l'issu d'un état de l'art et de quatre visites dans des ateliers de production, une stratégie de recherche en trois points a été établie. Le premier point a consisté en la recherche d'une composition de milieu de fermentation permettant d'augmenter la concentration finale en éthanol. Le second point a eu pour but de déterminer si les besoins en nutriments se limitaient uniquement à la phase de croissance ou au contraire si l'apport de ces nutriments était bénéfique tout au long de la fermentation. Le dernier point a quant à lui utilisé l'ensemble des résultats obtenus pour définir une conduite de procédé, permettant d'obtenir la concentration finale en éthanol la plus élevée possible. Ces résultats montrent qu'il est possible de réaliser des fermentations haute densité à partir de sirop basse pureté et d'obtenir 15,2 % (v/v) d'éthanol en fin de fermentation. L'application de ces travaux dans les ateliers de production permettrait d'économiser par litre d'éthanol pur, entre 20 et 30 % d'énergie pour la distillation, entre 35 et 49 % d'eau pour la réalisation des milieux de fermentation à partir de SBP et de diminuer de 23 à 38 % le volume de déchet produit après distillation.Ethanol is a compound with a wide usage range from chemistry to food. However, the current market growth mainly concerns the use of ethanol as fuel. The objective of this project was to intensify ethanol production from low purity syrup 2, which is a substrate from sugar beet, in order to reduce the consumptions of energy and water for its production. To do this, in partnership with UNGDA and ADEME, we have conducted research on high-gravity fermentations in order to increase the ethanol concentration at the end of the fermentation. With the coming of a state of the art and four visits in production facilities, a three points research strategy has been established. The first point consisted of fermentation medium composition finding in order to increase the final ethanol concentration at the end of the fermentation. The second point was to determine if the nutrients requirements were limited only during the growth phase or, on the contrary, if nutriments were beneficial throughout the fermentation. The latter point was to use the overall results to define a fermentation process, to obtain a final ethanol concentration as high as possible. These results show that it is possible to achieve high gravity fermentation from low purity syrup and reach a final ethanol concentration of 15.2 % (v/v). The application of this work in production facilities could save per liter of pure ethanol between 20 and 30% energy for distillation, between 35 and 49 % water for the production of fermentation media from SBP and decrease from 23 to 38 % of the volume of waste produced after distillation.TOULOUSE-INP (315552154) / SudocSudocFranceF

Optimization of very high gravity fermentation process for ethanol production from industrial sugar beet syrup

In order to reduce production costs and environmental impact of bioethanol from sugar beet low purity syrup 2, an intensification of the industrial alcoholic fermentation carried out by Saccharomyces cerevisiae is necessary. Two fermentation processes were tested: multi-stage batch and fed-batch fermentations with different operating conditions. It was established that the fed-batch process was the most efficient to reach the highest ethanol concentration. This process allowed to minimize both growth and ethanol production inhibitions by high sugar concentrations or ethanol. Thus, a good management of the operating conditions (initial volume and feeding rate) could produce 15.2% (v/v) ethanol in 53 h without residual sucrose and with an ethanol productivity of 2.3 g L h−1

Combining phosphate species and stainless steel cathode to enhance hydrogen evolution in microbial electrolysis cell (MEC)

Microbial electrolysis cells (MEC) must work around neutral pH because of microbial catalysis at the anode. To develop a hydrogen evolution cathode that can work at neutral pH remains a major challenge in MEC technology. Voltammetry performed at pH 8.0 on rotating disk electrodes showed that the presence of phosphate species straightforwardly multiplied the current density of hydrogen evolution, through the so-called cathodic deprotonation reaction. The mechanism was stable on stainless steel cathodes whereas it rapidly vanished on platinum. The phosphate/stainless steel system implemented in a 25 L MEC with a marine microbial anode led to hydrogen evolution rates of up to 4.9 L/h/m2 under 0.8 V voltage, which were of the same order than the best performance values reported so far. Keywords: Hydrogen; Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC); Stainless steel; Phosphat

Cosmological parameters from large scale structure - geometric versus shape information

The matter power spectrum as derived from large scale structure (LSS) surveys contains two important and distinct pieces of information: an overall smooth shape and the imprint of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). We investigate the separate impact of these two types of information on cosmological parameter estimation, and show that for the simplest cosmological models, the broad-band shape information currently contained in the SDSS DR7 halo power spectrum (HPS) is by far superseded by geometric information derived from the baryonic features. An immediate corollary is that contrary to popular beliefs, the upper limit on the neutrino mass m_\nu presently derived from LSS combined with cosmic microwave background (CMB) data does not in fact arise from the possible small-scale power suppression due to neutrino free-streaming, if we limit the model framework to minimal LambdaCDM+m_\nu. However, in more complicated models, such as those extended with extra light degrees of freedom and a dark energy equation of state parameter w differing from -1, shape information becomes crucial for the resolution of parameter degeneracies. This conclusion will remain true even when data from the Planck surveyor become available. In the course of our analysis, we introduce a new dewiggling procedure that allows us to extend consistently the use of the SDSS HPS to models with an arbitrary sound horizon at decoupling. All the cases considered here are compatible with the conservative 95%-bounds \sum m_\nu < 1.16 eV, N_eff = 4.8 \pm 2.0.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures; v2: references added, matches published versio

Merger Histories in Warm Dark Matter Structure Formation Scenario

Observations on galactic scales seem to be in contradiction with recent high resolution N-body simulations. This so-called cold dark matter (CDM) crisis has been addressed in several ways, ranging from a change in fundamental physics by introducing self-interacting cold dark matter particles to a tuning of complex astrophysical processes such as global and/or local feedback. All these efforts attempt to soften density profiles and reduce the abundance of satellites in simulated galaxy halos. In this paper, we explore a somewhat different approach which consists of filtering the dark matter power spectrum on small scales, thereby altering the formation history of low mass objects. The physical motivation for damping these fluctuations lies in the possibility that the dark matter particles have a different nature i.e. are warm (WDM) rather than cold. We show that this leads to some interesting new results in terms of the merger history and large-scale distribution of low mass halos, as compared to the standard CDM scenario. However, WDM does not appear to be the ultimate solution, in the sense that it is not able to fully solve the CDM crisis, even though one of the main drawbacks, namely the abundance of satellites, can be remedied. Indeed, the cuspiness of the halo profiles still persists, at all redshifts, and for all halos and sub-halos that we investigated. Despite the persistence of the cuspiness problem of DM halos, WDM seems to be still worth taking seriously, as it alleviates the problems of overabundant sub-structures in galactic halos and possibly the lack of angular momentum of simulated disk galaxies. WDM also lessens the need to invoke strong feedback to solve these problems, and may provide a natural explanation of the clustering properties and ages of dwarfs.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figures, MNRAS submitted, high-res figures can be found at http://www-thphys.physics.ox.ac.uk/users/AlexanderKnebe/publications.html, replaced with accepted version (warmon masses corrected!

Single-field inflation constraints from CMB and SDSS data

We present constraints on canonical single-field inflation derived from WMAP five year, ACBAR, QUAD, BICEP data combined with the halo power spectrum from SDSS LRG7. Models with a non-scale-invariant spectrum and a red tilt n_s < 1 are now preferred over the Harrison-Zel'dovich model (n_s = 1, tensor-to-scalar ratio r = 0) at high significance. Assuming no running of the spectral indices, we derive constraints on the parameters (n_s, r) and compare our results with the predictions of simple inflationary models. The marginalised credible intervals read n_s = 0.962^{+0.028}_{-0.026} and r < 0.17 (at 95% confidence level). Interestingly, the 68% c.l. contours favour mainly models with a convex potential in the observable region, but the quadratic potential model remains inside the 95% c.l. contours. We demonstrate that these results are robust to changes in the datasets considered and in the theoretical assumptions made. We then consider a non-vanishing running of the spectral indices by employing different methods, non-parametric but approximate, or parametric but exact. With our combination of CMB and LSS data, running models are preferred over power-law models only by a Delta chi^2 ~ 5.8, allowing inflationary stages producing a sizable negative running -0.063^{+0.061}_{-0.049} and larger tensor-scalar ratio r < 0.33 at the 95% c.l. This requires large values of the third derivative of the inflaton potential within the observable range. We derive bounds on this derivative under the assumption that the inflaton potential can be approximated as a third order polynomial within the observable range.Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures. v2: additional references, some typos corrected, passed to JCAP style. v3: minor changes, matches published versio