| 摘要 |
Process for producing a motor fuel or burning fuel from vegetable material comprises the production of pure esters from glucidic vegetable materials or derivatives of these as starting material, and using at least one of these esters as a component in or as a substitute for at least part of the fuel. A preferred process comprises: (a) if necessary, depolymerising the vegetable material or glucide-containing derivatives by hydrolysis to decompose it down into its constituent monosaccharides; (b) if necessary, treating the lignins to transform them into monosaccharides; and (c) converting the monosaccharides formed into the desired pure esters. Step (c) may be accomplished by fermentation with microorganisms selected e.g. from yeasts, fungi and bacteria which are capable of selective production of the desired ester, or step (c) may comprise the steps of: (d) fermenting the monosaccharides produced in stages (a) and (b) with microorganisms selected e.g. from yeasts, fungi and bacteria which are capable of selectively producing a pure carboxylic acid or a pure alcohol; and (e) esterifying the acid or alcohol produced to form the desired pure ester. Preferred microorganisms for producing 1-6 C acids are selected from Acetobacter, Clostridium thermoaceticum, Clostridium propionicum, Clostridium butyricum, Clostridium sp. or Clostridium kluyveri. Saccharomyces cerevisae, Pichia stipitis, Candida sp., Clostridium acetobutylicum, Zymomonas mobilis and Aspergillus flavus. |
