Influence of high biomass concentrations on alkane solubilities

✍ Scribed by Brian H. Davison; John W. Barton; K. Thomas Klasson; Alex B. Francisco

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 132 KB
• Volume: 68
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0006-3592
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0290(20000505)68:3<279::aid-bit6>3.0.co;2-p

✦ Synopsis

Alkane solubilities were measured experimentally for high-density biomass. The resulting Henry's law constants for propane were found to decrease significantly for both dense yeast suspensions and an actual propane-degrading biofilm consortium. At the biomass densities of a typical biofilm, propane solubility was about an order of magnitude greater than that in pure water. For example, a dense biofilm had a propane Henry's law constant of 0.09 ± 0.04 atm m 3 mol -1 compared to 0.6 ± 0.1 atm m 3 mol -1 measured in pure water. The results were modeled with mixing rules and compared with octanol-water mixtures. Hydrogels (agar) and salts decreased the alkane solubility. By considering a theoretical solubility of propane in dry biomass, estimates were made of intrinsic Henry's law constants for propane in pure yeast and biomass, which were 13 ± 2 and 5 ± 2 atm kg biomass mol -1 for yeast and biofilm consortium, respectively.