Abstract: Biobutanol (n-butanol) is an important bulk chemical and a potential biofuel candidate, which can be obtained by acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation using sugars from renewable biomass resources. Because of the limitations of by-products formation, low concentration of solvents, and the azeotropic mixture obtained, the conventional biobutanol separation is costly and energy-intensive. To overcome the above limitations, recently, several novel separation techniques are adopted and coupled with ABE fermentation process. In this review, the current advances of the potential alternative separation techniques, including the vapor-liquid equilibrium, solvents polarity-based techniques and membrane-based separation, for biobutanol recovery is summarized. The multi-stage cascade separations for effective biobutanol separation are also summarized. Facing to the generation of commercial guide biobutanol production, the development trends of distillation is also included. With the improvement of separation technology and the development of biorefinery process, the production cost of biobutanol can be decreased, which would further improve the competitiveness of biobutanol process in a sight of commercialization.

Key words: Bio-butanol, ABE fermentation, In situ product recovery, Biorefinery

摘要： 生物基（正）丁醇是一种重要的化学品和替代燃料，其主要制备途径为糖质底物的丙酮-丁醇-乙醇（ABE）发酵。受制于发酵副产物多、溶剂浓度低、产物共沸等因素，传统的生物丁醇分离过程存在分离能耗大、成本高等问题，制约其产业化制备。为解决生物丁醇分离的技术瓶颈。近年来，应用新型分离技术实现与ABE发酵过程的耦合成为研究的热点。本文综述了生物丁醇分离技术的最新研究进展，讨论了基于气液平衡、相转移、膜分离技术等新型分离方式的技术特点；并针对多级分离级联、面向终产物的精馏技术的新趋势、新特点进行剖析和讨论。随着分离技术的发展和进步、生物炼制工艺开发和集成，生物丁醇的制备成本可望进一步降低，提升市场竞争力。

关键词: 生物丁醇, ABE发酵, 原位分离, 生物炼制